2023.05 67-5 LGB Counseling Psychologists' Coming Out and Self-Disclosure in Counseling: Working Experiences and Strategies with LGBTQ Clients
While coming out is a specific action that reveals one's sexual-minority-identity, self-disclosure is a counseling technique that counselors expose their personal experiences relevant and beneficial to clients' ultimate counseling goals. Since LGB Counseling psychologists are both sexual minority and counseling professionals, coming out and self-disclosure may seem to look similar from the outlook. Thus, they may come together, independently, consequently, or be obfuscated as the same. The study aims to investigate LGB counseling psychologists' experiences working with LGBTQ clients, focusing on their assessment and evaluation of whether or not and how to use coming out and self-disclosure as counseling strategies. It also explored how LGB counseling psychologists' life experiences as sexual minorities, professional training and theoretical orientations has any influences on their works with LGB clients. Three LGB counseling psychologists, self-identified as one lesbian in same-sex marriage, one gay in same-sex marriage, and one pan/bisexual female in hetero-sex marriage, were interviewed for their counseling experiences with LGBTQ clients and the data was analyzed in narrative research methodology. Results indicated how LGB counseling psychologists decided to come out or not in sessions and their strategies if they choose to come out and/or to self-disclose in counseling based on their evaluation of LGBTQ clients' presenting issues, identity development stage, and conditions. LGB counseling psychologists reported that their intentions for coming out are to build safe and egalitarian counseling relationships with LGB clients, and to respond to clients' internalized stigma and/or stigmatized loneliness and isolation. LGB counseling psychologists can use their coming out as examples and resources for clients to explore and clarify their internalized homophobia. They indicated that they would choose self-disclosure if they want to (1) provide a positive role model for and increase empathy, support and empowerment. Participants would evaluate counseling goals, therapeutic effects, and risks when considering coming out or self-disclosure, as well as reflect on their own experiences and intentionally choose what to disclose to best meet clients' needs. Conceptual frameworks are presented to further understand how LGB counseling psychologists choose to either come out without self-disclosure, to come out and disclose personal experiences, or to self-disclose without coming out. The study also found that counseling psychologist participants' LGB life experiences, professional training and work experiences intertwined with each other and shaped their perspectives and evaluation of coming out and self-disclosure in working with LGB clients. We recognized that all participants in this study were LGB counseling psychologists with more than 6 years of clinical experiences, as well as having certain level of support from family and professional community. Thus, the results may not be able to apply to those who were less supported by significant others and less established professionally. Based on the findings, the study suggests that future research can investigate how LGB counseling psychologists evaluate and use their coming out and self-disclosure in sessions with heterosexual clients. In addition, we recommend that both LGB and heterosexual counseling psychologists diligently examine how our personal identities and life experiences impact on our clinical judgement, the intersections of personal and professional experiences. Therefore, LGB identities and life experiences can be valuable resources to use, not obstacles or stigmatized secret to hide when counseling psychologists working with LGB clients. By continuing to receive multicultural counseling training and enhancing understanding of our own intersexual identities rooted in the local sociocultural context, we counseling psychologists can better serve clients with diverse identities and experiences.
Keywords
Coming out, LGB counseling psychologists, LGBTQ counseling, self-disclosure, Tongzhi
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