Unlock Your Confidence:
Mastering Therapy with Gay Couples

Do you hesitate to dive right in with gay couples, fearing you’ll say the wrong thing? Is being “too careful” preventing you from being effective? Do you worry about not fully understanding the unique dynamics and challenges they face?

It's a common concern among therapists who want to be effective but feel unprepared when it comes to working with the LGBTQ+ community, particularly gay couples.
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Introducing…

Intimacy, Income, Interdependence: Empowering Your Work with Gay Relationships

Join us on April 8, at 11 am Pacific, for a crucial 90-minute webinar led by therapist Tom Bruett. With over a decade of experience, Tom will share insider knowledge to empower you to work confidently and effectively with gay couples. Whether you join live or opt for the replay, this training will enrich your practice and expand your therapeutic skills.

Why This Webinar Is Essential:

  • Overcome the Fear of Offending: Learn specific information to help you navigate sessions without walking on eggshells.
  • Enhance Your Effectiveness: Through demonstrations, interventions, and assessment tools, improve how you support and advocate for your clients.
  • Empower Your Practice: Gain the confidence to support gay couples through their unique challenges without feeling the need to refer them to someone else.

Even if you're not currently seeing gay couples, this webinar will enhance your ability to serve any client exploring sexual or relational expansiveness

Queer relationships have historically blazed the trail for more authentic conversations around consent, polyamory, kink, and other forms of relationship expansion. There’s so much we can learn from the queer community about deep inner honesty with ourselves, and with our clients.

Join us on April 8 and understand how to leverage all this expertise in your own practice. From assessing the risks of sexual compulsivity to navigating shame and financial inequality, you'll leave with practical tools that can help you with not only gay relationships, but straight ones, too.

Here’s What You'll Discover:

  • Financial Dynamics: Understand how traditional gender roles impact the financial struggles unique to gay couples.
  • Drug Use Realities: Understand the drug use often prevalent within the community, even if you think it doesn't apply to your city or clients (hint: it does!).
  • Sexual Health: Dive deep into discussions about sex, including how to talk about sex workers, open relationships, kink, and more without judgment.
  • Navigating Internalized Homophobia: Equip yourself with strategies to confront and work through internalized homophobia, enhancing your clients' therapy experience.
  • Roleplay Demonstrations: Experience three key role-plays focusing on sex, drugs, and finances, providing you with real-world applications for your clients.

Intimacy, Income, Interdependence:
Empowering Your Work with Gay Relationships

April 8, 11am-12:30pm Pacific
Join live or watch the replay!

Order Now for Only $79
"Tom is patient and approachable. He offers clinicians an accessible way to become both affirming and more effective in their relational work with LGBTQ+ clients."
- Fiona O’Farrell, PhD, LMFT, CST-S
"Tom is a wonderful trainer! He’s engaging, knowledgeable, funny, with a unique perspective. Tom provides research, current statistics, and anecdotal evidence where appropriate which makes me feel confident that he knows the nuances of the subject. I would attend any training where Tom presented!"
- Andrea Tang EdS, LMHC, NCC, CCTP, CCTHP

Including 3 Dynamic Roleplay Demonstrations…

Tom will dive right into challenging roleplay demonstrations right from his very own practice. You’ll watch an expert at work on 3 distinct struggles that most gay couples face.

1. The role of power, control, and gender dynamics in sex

In this roleplay, you’ll see…
  • How to discuss sensitive topics like sex confidently, and the unique dynamics affecting gay couples in their sexual relationships.
  • How to break the ice on discussing sex clubs, open relationships, and kink without judgment.
  • Intricacies of queer culture, from poppers to navigating open relationships.
  • Assess signs of sexual compulsivity and implement harm reduction strategies.
  • Learn language and approaches that make clients feel seen and valued in their sexual identity.
  • Learn to assess for and address out-of-control sexual behavior.

2. The pervasive combination of drugs and sex in the gay community

In this section of this webinar, Tom will illuminate…

  • The specific drugs you may often encounter when working with the gay community.
  • How to distinguish recreational drug use from concerning drug use, with specific focus on drugs common in gay culture.
  • Questions to determine if drug use is problematic and how to address it relationally when there's a difference between partners.
  • Understand when to intervene in cases of drug use and when such use isn't the primary concern in therapy.
  • How to check your own judgments and assumptions around recreational drug use.

3. How gender sterotypes are an incubator for specific financial challenges

In this roleplay, Tom will address the unique and specific reasons for financial struggles in gay relationships. You’ll understand…

  • How traditional gender dynamics and stereotypes impact financial conversations in gay relationships.
  • Strategies for breaking through stuck dynamics around finances, including initiating conversations about money that couples often avoid.
  • The "money timeline" tool to facilitate discussions on financial histories and future aspirations, promoting open dialogue.
  • The challenges of separate finances and how to navigate discussions on shared resources and equitable financial planning.
  • How to lead conversations that explore what financial arrangements make sense for each couple, fostering interdependence.
  • How drug use and power dynamics influence financial decision-making within gay relationships.
  • Implications of not discussing finances and how to effectively break through significant financial walls.
  • Approaches for advocating for partners in one-down positions.
  • Meaningful impact of openly discussing finances in therapy, helping couples avoid resentment and assumptions.
Order Now - $79

About Tom Bruett, LMFT

Tom doesn't just show; he equips. He offers feedback and a perspective to shake clients from their stuck patterns, and helps therapists do the same for their clients. His workshops and classes arm clients and therapists with an arsenal of assessment tools and conversation starters designed to dive deep into the currents beneath the surface. Learn to navigate the nuances of power dynamics, desire discrepancies, and the silent struggles that often go unvoiced. Tom has been working as a therapist for the past decade. He supervises and trains other therapists in expanding their work with the queer community. He’s currently working on a book designed to help gay male couples thrive, to be published by Jessica Kingsley Publishing.

Tom is a gifted clinician with so much expertise, insight, and knowledge that it is a rare privilege to get to train with him. His constant willingness to learn and grow set him apart. And the fact that his expertise is delivered with such compassion, openness, and a true gift of relating to other clinicians make his trainings top notch. I encourage you to prioritize the chance to train with Tom, you won't regret it!
- Cathy Carr, LMFT
Tom has a unique and compassionate way of helping therapists recognize their blind spots so that they can grow through them. You will learn something new if you decide to train with him.
- Pete Pearson, Ph.D.

Intimacy, Income, Interdepence:
Empowering Your Work with Gay relationships

April 8, 11am-12:30pm Pacific
Join live or watch the replay!

Order Now - $79

Frequently Asked Questions

This webinar is designed for therapists, counselors, and mental health professionals who wish to improve their skills and confidence in working with gay couples. It's also highly beneficial for practitioners who want to deepen their understanding of unique dynamics in gay relationships.

No prior experience is necessary. This webinar is structured to provide value to both seasoned professionals and those new to working with gay couples.

There is much we can learn from Tom's expertise with gay men, including how to cultivate deep inner honesty.

You'll get tools to encourage conversations about things that have been hidden in the shadows that can help you with lesbian and straight couples, too.

Tom will cover: 

  • Financial Dynamics: Understand how traditional gender roles impact the financial struggles unique to gay couples.
  • Drug Use Realities: Understand the drug use prevalent within the community, even if you think it doesn't apply to your city or clients (hint: it does!).
  • Sexual Health: Dive deep into discussions about sex, including how to talk about sex workers, open relationships, kink, and more – without judgment.
  • Navigating Internalized Homophobia: Equip yourself with strategies to confront and work through internalized homophobia, enhancing your clients' therapy experience.
  • Roleplay Demonstrations: Experience three key role-plays focusing on sex, drugs, and finances, providing you with real-world applications for your clients.

Yes, the webinar includes 3 key role-plays focusing on talking about sex, drugs, and finances. These real-life demonstrations are designed to provide you with concrete examples of how to apply the teaching in your sessions.

This webinar specifically addresses these concerns by providing you with the knowledge and language to discuss sensitive issues confidently and respectfully. You'll learn how to navigate potential pitfalls and create a supportive, non-judgmental space for your clients.

Absolutely. The insights and strategies shared in this webinar are not only applicable to gay couples but can also enhance your work with all clients exploring sexual or relational expansiveness. Furthermore, the webinar will prepare you for future work with gay couples, should they seek your services.
Yes, there will be opportunities for Q&A, allowing you to ask questions. This ensures you can dive deeper into specific areas of interest and leave feeling fully equipped to apply your new tools.
Yes, if you order before April 8, you will have lifetime access to the replay. This allows you to revisit the video and the handouts as often as you’d like, even if you're unable to attend the live session.

Register here for “Intimacy, Income, Interdependence: Empowering Your Work with Gay Relationships” and be prepared, effective, and confident in your therapy sessions with gay couples!

Order Now - $79