• 217-01 - Therapists' Religious Practices and Comfort With Lesbian and Gay Clients
  Presented by: Alexandra Schmidt, Mary Sue Green
• 217-02 - Permanent Change in Therapist Habitual Patterns
  Presented by: Margaret Keiley, Ali Zaremba-Morgan, Kim Gregson, Ashley Anders-Jackson
• 217-03 - Family Therapists’ Considerations of Web-based Technologies in Clinical Practice
  Presented by: Katherine Hertlein, Markie Blumer, Justin Smith

Abstracts

Therapists' Religious Practices and Comfort With Lesbian and Gay Clients

Presented by: Alexandra Schmidt, Mary Sue Green

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the influences on religious therapists' comfort working with lesbian and gay male individuals, couples, and families. The only consistent predictor was the total score on the Behavior Religiosity Scale (BRS). Post hoc analysis revealed that the type of religious practice in which the therapists participated made a difference in the level of comfort. Implications for clinical training and supervision, including the development of awareness of self-of-the-therapist issues, will be discussed.

Permanent Change in Therapist Habitual Patterns

Presented by: Margaret Keiley, Ali Zaremba-Morgan, Kim Gregson, Ashley Anders-Jackson

We developed an Emotionally Focused Therapy Supervision Module focused on changing therapists’ habitual responses to arousal and stress in the therapy room. Often, if therapists-in-training are having great difficulty conducting therapy, supervisors suggest they go to therapy. Certainly, this is one possible solution, but we found that helping therapists-in-training learn how to permanently change habitual responses to their own and their clients high arousal in the therapy room is another solution. We will illustrate using audience role-plays how our module alters habitual physiological, cognitive, and behavioral modes of interaction of therapists and therapists-in-training allowing them to be more effective therapists.  

Family Therapists’ Considerations of Web-based Technologies in Clinical Practice

Presented by: Katherine Hertlein, Markie Blumer, Justin Smith

The purpose of this study was to better understand how family therapists are using web-based technologies in their practices. We administered a web-based survey to practicing family therapists across the U.S. to identify the extent that they assess for cyber issues in practice, the frequency with which they used web-based communications with their clients, and extent to which they felt comfortable using web-based communications in various treatment modalities. The results indicated therapists were more comfortable using web-based technologies in their practices as an adjunct rather than for the sole format of treatment. Implications for clinical practice and training are discussed.