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YW CA counseling center attempts to fill gap
by Kathy Beige
N atural
Furniture
Everyone has a first time.
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From left, Adrienne Wolmark, Catherine Pivetti and Julie Perry provide a safe, supportive and
sympathetic place for queer-specific therapy
14-year-old boy struggles with his
sexual identity. A middle-aged
trans woman is seeking a referral
letter for hormones. A lesbian cou
ple fight about sexual differences.
A 75-year-old gay man’s partner just died. A mem
ber of the leather community contemplates sui
cide. Where can these people turn for help?
With the demise of Phoenix Rising and Cas-
cadia Behavioral HealthCare’s Helios Program,
fewer counseling options exist for the sexual
minorities community. The YW CA of Greater
Portland fills this much-needed gap.
The counseling centers sliding-scale fees
make therapy affordable for low-income people.
“Services are not just for young folks, not just for
women and certainly not just for Christians,”
director Adrienne Wolmark points out.
Without many marketing dollars, word is get
ting out that the Y is a safe place for gay, lesbian,
hi and trans people. According to Wolmark, 75
percent of her clients identify as queer. Many
graduate students are chcxising to he placed at
the Y because of its emphasis on sexual and gen
der minorities and because of Wolmark s reputa
tion as a gender expert and gifted mentor.
So how does the YW CA do this when so
many other agencies are buckling under the
crunch of budget cuts? It receives grants from
foundations, including Equity. Much of the
YW CA’s fund-raising efforts go toward the
counseling center, and all of the therapists are
volunteers or graduate students from Portland
State, Pacific University, Lewis & Clark and
Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Catherine Pivetti is one such intern. She is
quick to point out that, unlike other strapped-for-
cash agencies, the YW CA has no predetermined
time limit for services and will not push clients
into group therapy unless they want it.
Yet, as facilitator of the sexual minority
women’s support group, Pivetti says groups are
most beneficial for some people. “When you
hear of another person being rejected by family
or their job, it’s much easier to come up with the
appropriate anger and to acknowledge that this
person didn’t deserve to have that happen. The
more they can do this, the more it has an effect
on themselves, too.”
Mark Ferguson proudly claims the title of the
first male volunteer therapist at the YWCA. With
an undergraduate degree in theology, he attempts
to help clients reconcile sexuality and religion.
“The queer community tends to suffer a lot
from institutional religions,” he says. “There’s a
lot of pain there, there’s a lot of anger there,
there’s a lot of feeling lost. But I believe that in
human beings there is a spiritual quality.... I
tend to define it as our connection with the rest
of life. So I often find myself weaving that into
my practice.”
Why queer-specific therapy? Wolmark says,
“I think it’s important to have queer-specific
counseling because there are specific issues that
queer folk deal with and it’s important that you
have counselors that are knowledgeable about
and sensitive to those issues.”
Pivetti interjects, “For example, a client who
has suffered through reparative therapy needs a
place to go where they can feel very safe."
Wolmark adds: “I think a lot of times with
reparative therapy what you’re dealing with is
someone who started out with a significant
amount of guilt and shame.... And then what
happens is the treatment intensifies the guilt and
shame. It makes it worse.” YW CA therapists are
trained to help clients work through this.
For trans clients, Pivetti states, it is impor
tant that therapists see beyond their gender
identity and treat them as a whole person. They
might need help for depression that has nothing
to do with their gender.
“On the other hand, there are some folks for
whom gender is the issue, and for them we have
counselors who arc sensitive to gender issues,
transgender issues in particular,” Wolmark adds.
“We have some capacity right now to do hor
mone and surgery letters.”
For the past two years the YW CA has offered
free counseling to sexual minority youth. Wol
mark says for kids especially, counseling can he
the difference between life and death. “As an
adult you potentially have more resources, more
ways to find out information. You’re also not
struggling with adolescence, which in and of itself
is tumultuous.... I think for the youth it’s even
more important that they have a place to go that’s
safe and supportive with a sympathetic ear."
The YW CA also recognizes the strength of
the queer youth community, bringing facilita
tors in each year to train the therapists.
Wolmark is quick to point out that for many
sexual orientation is not an issue, but still queer
clients want to receive counseling from a thera
pist they are comfortable with and who under
stands the community.
Another group the YW CA staff want to make
sure feels welcome is the S/M community. Clients
who ask to see a “Blue Dove” therapist will be
linked with a kink-friendly counselor. JH
The YW C A o f G r e a t e r P o r t l a n d ,
1111 S.W . 10th A v e., offers individual, group
and couples counseling as well as a support group
fo r lesbians and plans to start a trans support
group. For an appointment call 503-294-7440.
KATHY B elge is a Portland free-lance uniter.
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