KPACT Kink & Polyam Aware Chicago Therapists
Awareness, Professionalism, Advocacy, Compassion, Training.
by Elisabeth A. Sheff Ph.D., CASA, CSE Eli Sheff is considered a leading expert when it comes to polyamory and stigma. Eli is the CEO and Director of Legal Services at the Sheff Consulting Group, a think-tank of experts specializing in diverse subcultures and under-served populations. The following is an article she wrote for Psychology Today about polyamphobia […]
by Elisabeth A. Sheff Ph.D., CASA, CSE This is the third in a series of blogs on children in polyamorous families. The first looked at the age dependent experiences of children in polyamorous families and why they appear to be doing so well, and the second detailed the advantages and disadvantages these children identified in polyam family life. Third in […]
by Melissa Fritchle, LMFT This post was published by Sexology International, and can be found here. Melissa Fritchle is a licensed marriage and family therapist, sex therapist and sex educator in Santa Cruz, CA. Her focus is holistic, always honoring the integration of the mind, body and spirit and diversity. She is adjunct faculty for two Bay Area […]
by Rami Henrich, LCSW and Cindy Trawinski, PsyD This is the third in a series of articles about the intersections of polyamorous identities and psychotherapy, adapted from Rami Henrich and Cindy Trawinski’s article in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, “Social and therapeutic challenges facing polyamorous clients,” as well as supplemental materials that didn’t make it into […]
by Nash Jones, Q Center This article was originally published in 2014 through the Q Center in Portland, OR. We are delighted to share it with you. Being misgendered can create an uncomfortable, embarrassing and even unsafe situation for many trans* individuals. There’s no doubt that when working toward creating or contributing to safer, more accessible […]
by Danielle Carlson, AMFT Back in May, I was fortunate to be part of a panel of trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) members of the polyam community at the 1st Annual Chicago Non-Monogamy conference. We got to talk about our own experiences of dating and being non-monogamous as non-binary people, and also had the chance […]
by Rami Henrich, LCSW This is the first in a series of articles about the intersections of polyamorous identities and psychotherapy, adapted from my article in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, “Social and therapeutic challenges facing polyamorous clients” (Henrich & Trawinski 2016). In this installment, I explore the ways in Process Work influenced my understanding of polyamory […]
by Elizabeth Duke, PsyD April 28-30th I had a wonderful opportunity — to attend the National LGBTQ Health Conference 2017! The event was sponsored by Northwestern Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing as well as Center on Halsted Sexual Orientation and Gender Institute. The conference was specifically geared toward research that could help […]
by Elizabeth Duke, PsyD I had such a blast attending the first ever Chicago Non-Monogamy Conference! The day was a whirl of shared wisdom, friendly faces, and excited energy. Josephine Kearns, co-founder of Chicago Polyam Cocktails, and I had the honor of sharing a model we created to help people construct the non-monogamy version of […]
by Cindy Trawinski, Psy.D. Prejudice, stereotyping, bias—however we understand these tendencies and attitudes, we can learn to identify, confront, wrestle with, accept, and change them within ourselves. Sometimes, however, doing so is possible only with great difficulty. Discrimination takes many forms, including harassment, bullying, hate speech, and scapegoating. Such behaviors put others at risk, cause […]
by Cindy Trawinski, Psy.D. and Cassandra Damm, MSW In a previous article, we introduced the topic of sex work, considered its history and politics, and explored some identifying attributes of the diverse population of individuals sometimes referred to as sex workers. In this article, we would like to offer a few guidelines about the many […]
by Cindy Trawinski, Psy.D. My world and life, like many people’s, is a mix of privilege and struggle. As a cisgender woman, I have some privileges that trans women and men do not. For example, I can assume that others will use my preferred pronouns (she, her, and hers) when referencing me. As a person […]
