Reminder to Register for Access to Recording

Hello everyone. No full newsletter update today. I just wanted to remind y’all that my new webinar is this Friday and that folks who can’t attend live are still encouraged to register in advance for access to an on-demand recording.

I’ve been putting a lot of work into this training, synthesizing and integrating so much wisdom: teachings from multiple schools of psychotherapy and psychology (e.g., liberation psychology, feminist trauma therapy, psychodynamic theories, humanism, DBT, and more); my own experiences over the past year and especially the past four months as a therapist working intensively with sociopolitical distress, and what I have heard in community; the work of clinicians, healers, and community organizers in other communities that have survived meaningfully through generations of oppression; early lessons from the research Drs. Bekah Estevez, Jae Puckett, and I are doing on what skilled therapists and trans/nonbinary clients are finding helpful around sociopolitical distress in sessions; and trans art and music.

The result is two packed hours of rich, but digestible information, from specific immediate actions that therapists can take to theoretical frameworks to practical interventions and responses to complex scenarios.

I’m very proud of this offering and glad to be able to contribute to the care of my communities and beyond in this way. Thank you to everyone who has registered and/or shared the webinar with your networks and listservs. Below is information you can copy and paste with the flyer to continue to spread the word.

[Before I post that I should probably take this opportunity to remind folks that I’m teaching a course at Cape Cod Institute at the end of July and you can take it virtually. It’s an in-depth course on working clinically with trans and nonbinary adolescents and young adults. Register with the code BARR20 for 20% off]

Join us for a timely webinar:

Supporting Trans & Nonbinary Clients with Sociopolitical Distress

Date: Fri, May 16, 2025

Time: 3:00 PM EDT

Are you a mental health professional looking to better support your trans and nonbinary clients during times of sociopolitical distress? This webinar is for you. Learn practical strategies and tools to provide the effective care that is desperately needed right now. Don't miss out on this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of your clients. Register now!

Recording will be available to all registrants! You don't need to attend live!

Why This Matters:

While the sociopolitical climate in the U.S. (and globally) has been growing increasingly hostile to trans communities in recent years, this has intensified under the current federal government. Since January 2025 especially, trans and nonbinary people have struggled with worsened mental health as communities navigate hateful rhetoric, risk of violence, restrictions to care and other rights, and fear of what's to come.

Many clinicians feel limited in their ability to support trans and nonbinary clients facing this harsh reality and still unpredictable future, with some likening their provision of therapy these days to "offering sunscreen to a person on fire." But therapy can be much more than sunscreen - and it needs to be. Trans and nonbinary communities need access to helpful ways to make sense of and respond to or manage the understandable distress they are experiencing so that they live meaningfully in the present and future. Mental healthcare providers are positioned to be an invaluable resource to trans and nonbinary clients right now - we just need to be grounded in best practices.

What to Expect:

In this webinar, Dr. Sebastian Barr will draw from research, clinical experience, and community knowledge to help clinicians build their capacity to step into this work with confidence and comfort. The webinar will include discussion of general steps and practice considerations, general psychotherapeutic approaches, recommendations for responding to common scenarios, and reflections on caring for ourselves while doing this work.

A similar webinar offered in November 2024 helped thousands of clinicians find their footing and received many pieces of positive feedback. This content has been updated to speak specifically to the concerns and realities we are now facing in Spring of 2025, and what this asks of us as mental health professionals.

About The Presenter:

Dr. Sebastian Barr (he/him) is a psychotherapist, researcher, consultant, and educator with a PhD in Counseling Psychology. His work focuses on traumatic stress recovery, trans mental health, and the wellbeing of people with trans loved ones. He provides psychotherapy to teens and adults in Massachusetts and Kansas through his independent practice, and has trained thousands of clinicians, educators, and healthcare professionals on effective and affirming care for trans communities.

Dr. Barr completed advanced clinical training at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, including two years in the Program for Psychotherapy and work in the Victims of Violence clinic founded by Judith Herman and Mary Harvey. His research—published in peer-reviewed journals and cited hundreds of times—focuses on the intersections of trauma and trans mental health. He is currently engaged in multiple grant-supported research projects and serves as an advisor on affirming and ethical trans health research.

Dr. Barr has received numerous awards for his contributions, including the Trans Research Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, recognition from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the U.S. Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the 2023 Early Career Clinical Award from the Society for Counseling Psychology. He was also a past scholar-in-residence at the Faber-Llull Institute in Olot, Catalonia. He has served on the editorial boards of Psychotherapy and Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, and has contributed to several clinical texts and books related to trans mental health and psychotherapy.

In closing, a reflection on my current gratitude: It is a gift to be trans, and it is a gift to be a therapist. I am humbled on the daily by the opportunities I have to walk these paths during this one short life. I did not arrive here on my own and I do not walk alone. Thank you to all who have directly and indirectly supported me on my various journeys.

In solidarity,

Sebastian

P.S.

Are you on instagram? I am. I mostly use it to share ideas from my substack.