Out of the Closet, Still in the Home: Providing Queer Affirmative Therapy for Youth and Their Families.

This paper focuses on clinical work with families of. youth who are coming out to their families. Societal attitudes towards queers are changing, yet many families continue to hold negative beliefs about homosexuality. We discuss what therapists need to know in order to work with these families and provide specific guidelines for this work. Assessment topics are suggested, as are clinical techniques recommended for work with families with a queer member. We focus on the family's loss of their heterosexual paradigm (using a grief and loss perspective) and suggest ways for the family to build a new, more inclusive, paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]