You Are Not Alone:

PINK THERAPY
Applied In The Group

Marty Ian Gideon Flores

Pangasinan State University – Graduate School
Psychology Department, Urdaneta City University
The QUEERED PATH towards INCLUSION
• Understand the importance
of GROUP GUIDANCE and
COUNSELING in relation to
PRIDE against PREJUDICE
Principle.
• Familiarize self with the
LGBT identities, and
issues—concerning mental
health.
• Reflect on personal values
as a therapist-counselor in
relatio to o e s attitude
towards LGBT clients.
The QUEERED PATH towards INCLUSION
• Recognize the negative
effects of personal biases
towards LGBTs
psychological wellbeing.
• Appreciate and value the
principles and practice of
PINK THERAPY in insuring
the positive mental health
of LGBT clients
 The PRIDE against PREJUDICE outline
• Group 101: Basics of G&T
• Aims of Group Guidance
• Aims of Group Counseling
• LGBT Psych 101: SOGIE
• Groups and LG: My Rationale
• Common Themes why LG
SEEKS Counseling: The
individual-client issues
• Common Themes why LG
AVOIDS Counseling: The
therapist-counselor issues
 The PRIDE against PREJUDICE outline
• PINK THERAPY: Analyzing the
principles of Ofreňo s 3S
Model, and Kintanar &
‘odriguez s Model
• Lear i g fro o e s
experiences: On Being an
Affirmative Therapist
• My VISION of PINK Group
Counseling: A gay-feminist
ou selor s o lusio .
GROUPS 101: Definitions
• Two or more individuals
interacting with each other to
accomplish a common goal
(Ivancevich & Metteson,
2002);
• Two or more people who
interact with each other and
are interdependent, in the
sense that their needs and
goals cause them to influence
each other (Aronson et al.,
2002);
• Several interdependent
people who have emotional
ties and interact on a regular
basis (Franzoi, 2003).
 GROUPS 101: Its Nature
Definable
membership • Essential characteristics of
the group (Reitz, 1977; &
Group
Ivancevich & Matteson,
consciousness
2002):
Sense of shared – Groups are (1) two or more
purpose people, who (2) interact with
one another, (3) share some
Interdependence common ideology, and (4)
see themselves as a group.

Interaction
Ability to act in
a unitary
manner
GROUPS 101: Reasons for Joining
Interpersonal • Affiliation
needs • Security
Individual • Esteem
goals • Power
• Identity
Interpersonal
attraction • Accomplishment

Group (Reitz, 1977; Ivancevich & Matteson,

attraction 2002; Aronson et al., 2002; & Beebe &
Masterson, 2004).
GROUPS 101: Stages of Group Development
(Ivancevich & Matteson, 2002; Beebe &
Masterson, 2004; Adair, 2009; & Corey,
2012).
• Forming: anxiety & uncertainty
about belonging to the group
and a resulting cautiousness in
behavior.
• Storming: competition,
individuality, and conflict
emerge as group members try to
satisfy their individual needs.
• Norming: attempts to resolve
conflicts, often by negotiating
clear guidelines for the group.
• Performing: cooperation and
productive work.
• Adjourning: termination of
group activities.
• Evaluation and follow-up
 Purposes of Group Guidance
• Disseminate information that will
assist students to make effective
use of his/her environment;
• Provide factual sources for the
discussion of growth and
development concerns peculiar
to the group;
• Stimulate student though about
his/her biological, psychological,
and sociological world;
• Orient student to the availability
of guidance services, purposes of
counseling, and operational
procedures of the counseling
office. (Jones, Stefflre, & Stewart, 1970).
 Purposes of Group Counseling
• Discuss problems common
to the group and to develop
awareness that problems are
also shared by others;
• Enable each individual to
understand how others have
met and solved the same
problems that confront
him/her.
• Broaden the horizons of
clients.
(Kapunan, 1974; & Mendoza, 2003).
Getting to Know
Your Client
A quickie LGBT 101/SOGIE
discussion

Some slides were taken from Manalastas, Eric

presentation dated May 2013
LGBT Psychology
An emerging field of
psychology concerned
with the lives,
experiences , and well-
being of LGBT people in
a positive, affirming, and
non-stigmatizing ways
(Clark et al., 2010; Hancock & Greenspan, 2010)
What is Sexual Orientation?

It refers to an enduring
pattern of emotional,
romantic, and/or sexual
attractions to men,
women, or both sexes
(APA, 2008).
 What is LGB?

esbian

Women attracted,
romantically and
sexually, to other
women.
 What is LGBT?

ay

Men attracted,
romantically and
sexually, to other men.
 What is LGB?

isexual
Men and women
attracted, romantically
and sexually, to both
men and women.
What is Gender Identity and
Gender Expression?
Gender identity refers to a
perso ’s deeply held se se
of their own gender,
regardless of what they
were assigned at birth.

Gender expression refers to

how one demonstrate
his/her gender (based on
traditional gender roles)
through the ways he/she
acts, dress, behave, and
interact.
 What is T?

People whose assigned

sex differs from their
gender identity (sense of
self as men or women).

ransgender
Trans men and trans women
people who transition or
igrate fro o e side of
the gender binary to the
other.

• BB Gandanghari
– Birth sex: Male
– Ge der ide tit : babae
– Gender expression: feminine
 Balian Buschbaum
German pole vaulter
Trans man
 Heterosexual

Men attracted to women;

Women attracted to men.
Groups and LGs: My Rationale
• The group presents a
microcosm of social
reality in which we
might attempt to bridge
the gap between our
insight at a counseling
session and our daily
pattern of experience
(Jones et al., 1970).
Groups and LGs: My Rationale
Beebe & Masterson (2004)
enumerated some principles:
– Groups have more
information than individuals
do;
– Groups stimulate creativity;
– Groups foster improved
learning and
comprehension;
– Group members are more
satisfied if they participate
in the process;
– Group members learn more
about themselves.
Groups and LGs: My Rationale
Nystul (2011) further explained:
– Groups are dynamic entities and
in that regard have a life and
purpose of their own.
Likewise, he identified six
advantages of group in therapy:
– Vicarious leaning
– Role flexibility
– Universality
– Altruism
– Interpersonal learning
– Family reenactment
 Why LG SEEKS Counseling: The
Individual-Client Issues
• Coming – out
• Discrimination related to
homophobia and heterosexism
• Depression and anxiety
• Couple difficulties
• Grief and loss
• Family and partner violence
• Career-related problems
• HIV/AIDS
• Establishing close relationship
• Life transitions
(NUDS, 2012; Herring, 1998; Clarke et al,
• Sexual and emotional abuse 2010; Ball & Lipton, 2005; & APA-GS,
• Stigmatization & shame 2006).
 Why LG AVOIDS Counseling: The
Therapist-Counselor Issues
• Belief that being LGBT is
psychopathology;
• Attributes problems to
sexual orientation;
• Homophobia;
• Faulty assumptions;
• Expressing attitudes that
trivialize or demean L&G
individuals;
• Teaching inaccurate or
biased information about (APA, 1991, 2002; Corey et al., 1998; &
L&G. Ruiz & Primm, 2012).
Defining Psychology
the s ie tifi stud of hu a
behavior. It involves the
application of scientific
methods to inquire into the
biological, cognitive, affective,
developmental, personality,
social, cultural and individual
difference dimensions of
hu a ehavior.

‐RA 10029
The Philippi e Ps holog A t of 2009
An interesting exception
Homosexuality is nothing to be
ashamed of, no vice, no degradation,
it cannot be classified as an illness.

Many highly respectable individuals

of ancient and modern times have
been homosexuals, several of the
greatest men among them.

It is a great injustice to persecute

homosexuality as a crime, and
cruelty too…

(letter to a concerned mother, 1935)

The year things changed: 1973

40 years ago,
ho ose ualit was
officially removed from
the DSM and recently,
Gender Identity
Disorder was removed
in DSM V.
 More offi ial ha ge…
Ho ose ualit as also re o ed
from the ICD by the WHO in 1992 –
more than twenty years ago.

Affirmed by mental health

professional organizations
worldwide:
» Brazil (1985)
» China (2001)
» South Africa (2008)
» Hong Kong (2011)
» India (2012)
» Pa ‐A erica Health Organization (2012)
 What is a disorder?: A review

Disorder = a condition that:

1) is not common  low prevalence
2) impairs daily functions  dysfunction
3) causes suffering  distress
 Therefore, the field had a shift
in thinking.

Not a diagnostic or
counseling issue per
se, but one of
stigma, rights and
well‐ ei g 
Gay Affirmative Therapy/Pink Therapy
This is an approach to
therapy that embraces a
positive view of Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,
and Queer (LGBTQ)
identities and relationships
and addresses the negative
influences that
homophobia, transphobia,
and heterosexism have on
the lives of LGBTQ clients.
PINK Therapy/ Expressive Art:
Kintanar & Rodriguez’s Model
• Art therapy is the
method, affirmative is
the principle.
– Affir lie ts perso al
integrity;
– Develop and affirm a
positive image of gay
relationships;

(Presentation from the 48th PAP

Convention, August 18, 2011, Iloilo City).
PINK Therapy/ Expressive Art:
Kintanar & Rodriguez’s Model
 PINK Therapy/ Expressive Art:
Kintanar & Rodriguez’s Model
Counseling Process and
Agreement

Usual Pattern for theme-

based art therapy group
session: (Liebman, 1979)
– Introduction and Warming
Up
– Artwork
– Discussion of Images
– Ending

Niel Steve Kintanar is a professor @

USC- Cebu; Avril Rodriguez is a professor
@ ADMU - Manila
 PINK Therapy: Ofre o’s 3S Model
• Story
– Therapist: know/reflect your lgbt
influences/stories and how it
affected you
– Client: get to know/listen to their
story with full heart and mind.
– Watch/read/be informed of lgbt
lives (learn more stories)
• Safe space
– Provide them the time with safe
place (protect them from
prejudice/stigma)
• Support
– Counselors should be the first to
give the psychological/emotional Dr. Mira Ofreno is the Director of ADMU
support, then LINK them too to – Manila SPARL; notes from FB
other LGBT support groups. conversation with Kintanar dated
January 26, 2014
Being an Affirmative Therapist involves:
• Self-reflection
• Get involved
• Create an affirmative
setting
• Be open about your
commitment to providing
affirmative therapy with
all clients.
• Act as an advocate by
challenging heterosexism
and the gender binary.
 CODA: Lessons Learned
From a Feminist Group Therapy
• C-challenges: evokes the
idea of a stimulating,
provocative, or
interesting task, inviting
the person to engage in
efforts that lead to the
task s solutio … While the
task may indeed be
difficult, we want to
assume that we are
capable of working on
resolving it.
Maas, S. 2002
 CODA: Lessons Learned
From a Feminist Group Therapy
• O-options: symbolize a
state of freedom.
• D-decision: time and
efforts spent in the
process of selecting the
most favorable option.
Decisions should always
The ultimate goal of be meaningful.
feminist group therapy is • A-actions: the vehicle
self-determination. to bring about solutions
to the challenge.
The Philippines Psychology Response

Statement on Non-Discrimination
Based on Sexual Orientation,
Gender Identity and Expression
 Drafted August 2011and adopted
by PAP Board in October 2011.
 PAP’s first poli y state e t.
 The first of its kind by a
professional mental health
organization in Asia.
The Statement of PAP
• Oppose all public and
private discrimination
on the basis of actual
or perceived SOGIE;
• Repeal discriminatory
laws and policies, and
support the passage of
legislation that protect
the rights and welfare
of people of all SOGIE
The Statement of PAP
• Eliminate all forms of
prejudice and
discrimination against
LGBT’s i tea hi g,
research, psychological
interventions,
assessment and other
psychological programs;
• Encourage psychological
research that addresses
the and concerns of LGBT
Filipinos and their
families and community
The Statement of PAP

• Disseminate and apply

accurate and evidence-
based information
about SOGIE to design
interventions that
foster mental health
and wellbeing of LGBT
Filipinos.
 What is the stand of PSSP on LGBT?
Naniniwala ang PSSP sa
pagtataguyod ng
makabuluhang pakikiisa sa
mga isinagilid,
sinasamantala, at walang
kapangyarihang sektor ng
lipunan tungo sa pagkamit ng
karangalan, katarungan, at
kalayaan ng sambayang
Pilipino. (Sek. 5, Art. 2 ng
PSSP SB)
 What is the stand of PSSP on LGBT?
Hinihikayat ng PSSP ang lahat
ng sikolohista at mag-aaral ng
sikolohiya na makiisa sa
pagsulong ng karapatan,
kalayaan, at pagkakapantay-
pantay ng lahat ng Pilipino,
bata at matanda, LGBT man o
heterosekswal. (Pahayag ng
Pambansang Samahan sa
Sikolohiyang Pilipino (PSSP)
laban sa Diskriminasyon at
Pagpapababa ng Dangal ng mga
Pilipinong LGBT, 2013).
Wrapping it up
• Change attitudes.
• Change behaviors.
• Change directions.
• Change lives.
• Change policies.
• Change voices.
• Be an ALLY.
• Be the CHANGE.
The United Nations…
Together, let us build a community
that is FREE and EQUAL.
My PAP LGBT Special Interest Group
family with Dr. Margie Holmes and
Dr. Sylvia Claudio of UPCWS

Thank you!