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Pink Therapy Newsletter |  |
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Greetings! Happy Pride Everyone! A lot has been happening in the the LGBT communities over the past month. I continue to be surprised and delighted by how many groups and organisations are now recognising the needs of and wanting to reach out to sexual minorities. The Royal Society of Medicine held a one day conference on Lesbian and Gay Health issues last week. It was a fairly small event with a great cast of speakers and topics and deserved to be better attended, given the potential enormous audience of health professionals working with sexual minorities, but it felt to me to be a significant move to recognise and want to respond to some of the specific issues around lesbian and gay health. Hopefully next year they may think to be even more inclusive and include transgender and intersex health issues. Dominic Davies
Pink Therapy hosted it's first Research Seminar yesterday. Around 20 therapists of diverse sexual and theoretical identities gathered to hear and discuss Cordelia Galgut's recent doctoral research into lesbian's experiences of therapy. If you would have liked to attend but couldn't make it, the 80+ slide presentation has been saved as a pdf file and is available on the wesbite.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists Gay and Lesbian Special Interest Group is holding a one-day conference for mental health workers entitled: Are You Gay? Normalising the Therapeutic Relationship. Speakers include: Dr Annie Bartlett, John Beveridge, Dr Chess Denman, Prof Michael King, Dr Jane Knowles, Joanna Ryan, and Pink Therapy's own Dominic Davies and recently joined. Clinical Associate Judy Yellin. The conference will be held on Saturday 17th September 2005 at the Tavistock Clinic and will cost £100 for a self-funded place and £150 if funded by an organisation.
As many of you know the general state of medical provision for trans people will not need to be described to most readers. Press for Change, the leading trans campaigning group inform us that next to the overall struggle for broader acceptance in society, I'd guess that the controlling and demeaning way in which trans people have traditionally been treated by some medical practitioners is the SECOND most discussed topic when trans people come together anywhere on the planet. Western medicine offers us a system which is at present still founded in a long tradition of pathologising and proscribing difference. This is especially the case within psychiatry. Trans people are not the only minority to have suffered this way in the West. Long after psychiatrists officially gave up stigmatising gay and lesbian people with a mental illness label, there are still many self-agrandising "experts" who would like to put the clock back. And, in the case of trans people, there are many who would quite like to keep the clock just where it is. An online petition has been set up to try and give voice to the difficulties experienced by trans people accessing NHS treatment. Please check it out and if you feel able to, sign the petition.
The British Psychological Society would like an answer to the question "are those in the field likely to buy the new journal?". They would like this answer in the form of 100+ letters of support from individuals (both national and international) who would, in principle, subscribe to this new journal. NB: You are not committing yourself to anything, this exercise is viewed as preliminary market research. British Journal of Sexualities & Psychologies Aims and Scope: The British Journal of Sexualities & Psychologies (BJSexP) is an accessible international interdisciplinary journal that aims to advance knowledge and understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer issues in psychology and allied disciplines. The BJSexP places an equal emphasis on sexualities and psychologies. The journal provides a scholarly forum for furthering theories, methodologies (quantitative and qualitative), and applications of sexualities and gender-related research in psychology and the social sciences and humanities. Contents: Predominantly empirical and theoretical papers, spanning quantitative and qualitative methodologies, plus Special Features, Special Issues and book reviews/review essays. Promotional Description: The British Journal of Sexualities & Psychologies publishes original articles in all areas of human sexualities and gender including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer psychology. Whilst the journal has a psychological focus, it is interdisciplinary and welcomes submissions from allied social science and humanities disciplines. Topics include identities, practices and behaviour, families and relationships, LGBTQ studies, queer theory, attitudes, prejudice and discrimination, intergroup relations, crime and violence, sexualised language and discourse, health and sexualities, key thinkers and theories, intersection of sexualities and genders with other sites of oppression (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, (dis)ability). Submissions addressing these topics from a variety of approaches and methods are welcomed. If you or your colleagues/friends in the UK and elsewhere are interested in providing your, in principle, support for this venture (either at an individual and/or institutional level) please can you either write a letter of support or email a letter of support BEFORE the 3 October 2005 to: Dr Elizabeth Peel Psychology, Life & Health Sciences Aston University, Birmingham, UK B4 7ET Email: e.a.peel@aston.ac.uk
Clinical Associate, Charles Neal and Directory member Roz Pendlebury have asked us to publicise a workshop they are running in the Autumn, please pass the information on to anyone you think would find it of interest. The legal recognition of our relationships through Civil Partnership from December 2005 raises many emotional, as well as practical, legal and political, issues for lesbians and gay men. This day offers a rare, wonderful chance to investigate, in a safe place with other lesbian and gay couples, whether Civil Partnership is right for us. We will explore expectations and meanings for us as individuals and couples, ideas of commitment, the history and future of our relationships, and identify unresolved matters which might act as impediments. We will have the opportunity to talk, laugh, challenge and support each other in looking honestly at what we want and feel. To talk about the workshop or to book a place, please ring Roz (07961 107793) or Charles (07956 196826) or email roz.pendlebury@btinternet.com
There is some spare capacity at the our own Harley Street consulting room (pictured left) for an experienced practitioner wishing to see their own clients/patients. Mostly we have morning availabilty. Contact Dominic if you wish to discuss this further: info@pinktherapy.com Also Directory member, Hartmut Wuebbeler, runs an organisation called Triple Helix and has asked us to let you know that they have just added a new room to their London-wide locations at Canary Wharf. "We have added a forth location to our network of high standard consulting rooms just 2 minutes walk from Jubilee line tube station and DLR station. Spacious and light therapy room, comfortably furnished (fold-away couch available if required) which is suitable for 1-2-1 sessions and couple work. Available from early morning to late evening, weekdays and weekends, with 'meet and greet' reception service during normal office hours." To discuss your requirements, please call Hartmut on 07905 310 312 or send an e-mail to Hartmut@triplehelix.co.uk
Loving Men III is a weeklong, residential workshop for gay and bisexual men exploring what's really involved in friendships and relationships between men. We'll spend a week as a diverse group of up to 35 men doing a variety of activities together, using a range of tools to develop our ability to love ourselves and develop deeper relationships with other men. The week will run from 10-17 Sept 05 and be facilitated by Dennis Carney, Alfred Hurst and Pink Therapy Clinical Associate Tim Foskett. For more information about Loving Men III contact PACE 020 7700 1323
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