Conversion Therapy Sexual Orientation Guidance

GUIDANCE DOCUMENT REGARDING THERAPY AIMED AT CHANGING A PERSON’S SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR GENDER IDENTITY

SOCE and Conversion Therapy

Statements and guidance from several behavioral and medical healthcare associations, including the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Medical Association, provide that sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), or efforts to change gender identity, are harmful, ineffective, non-evidence based, and not in line with current standards of professional practice.

The Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board shares this viewpoint. The Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board does not condone credential holders employing sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) or efforts to change gender identity as part of the practice of marriage and family therapy, professional counseling, or social work.

Other Therapy Relating to Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity

Counseling that supports clients in exploring their questions and concerns about their sexual orientation or gender identity is appropriate assistance for a professional counselor, social worker, or marriage and family therapist to provide to a client. This would include, for example, counseling a client who is about to undergo a gender transition or who is in the process of undergoing a gender transition, or counseling that provides a client with acceptance, support, understanding, or that facilitates a client’s coping, social support, and identity exploration or development.

Further, counseling in the form of sexual orientation-neutral or gender identity-neutral interventions provided for the purpose of preventing or addressing unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, so long as the counseling is not provided for the purpose of attempting to change the client’s sexual orientation or gender identity, is also appropriate assistance for a professional counselor, social worker, or marriage and family therapist to provide to a client.