Untangling Gender: Exploring Identity with Clients Through a CBT Lens

A client shares with you in session that they are questioning their gender identity…now what? This webinar is designed to provide you, the clinician, with insight, guidance and practical tools to help your clients explore their gender identity. Drawing on over a decade of clinical experience leading a psychotherapy private practice focused on gender identity and grounded in a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) framework, Claire shares her knowledge and insight as to how you can facilitate client exploration of the difficult question, “Am I Trans?”. This training will provide attendees with a variety of resources and discussion points that may be integrated immediately into practice. Regardless if you work with adults or adolescents, you will learn how to explore such topics as the experience of gender dysphoria with your clients, including what it is and what it is not, and how feelings of shame can cloud our clients’ understanding of self (including their gender identity). Note: Attendees are assumed to have at least a basic-level understanding of various terms and concepts related to gender and sexuality to get the most out of this webinar. No training in CBT is required.

Learning Objectives:

1. Review treatment approaches to working with gender dysphoria, from a historical, political, and practical lens.
2. Understand how a CBT-based approach can facilitate the process of gender identity and presentation exploration.
3. Learn specific points of discussion, areas of psychoeducation, and handouts to review in session that provide opportunities for further exploration of gender identity.
4. Explore how to discuss the feeling of gender dysphoria with a client – including measuring the experience, the feeling versus the diagnosis, and differentiating dysphoria from dysmorphia.

Speaker Bio:

Claire Salisbury, MSc (Clinical Psychology), RP, CCC is a Canadian-based, Registered Psychotherapist specializing in the areas of gender identity and sexuality. Her private practice focuses on providing psychotherapy for trans and gender questioning individuals across the lifespan, as well as working with family members (parents, siblings, partners) who may be struggling with a loved one’s gender exploration and (potential) transition. Employing an evidence-based, cognitive-behavioural (CBT) lens to her approach, Claire’s clinical work extends to knowledge dissemination through the provision of peer consultation and talks focused on gender identity/dysphoria. Operating out of Southern Ontario, she recently served as a panel member for the inaugural Ontario Health West 2SLGBTQIA+ Health Forum in 2024, and served on her alma mater, Western University’s, Trans Care Team overseeing mental health care for undergraduate and graduate students.