🎧 Friday Lunchtime CE Series: Binary and Transcendent Gender Identity Projections in Couple Therapy with Vince Nevins, PhD LMFT

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There are few issues more compelling in contemporary psychotherapy than clients’ presentations of their gender identities. Gender identities have been largely understood as existing on a binary “man-woman” spectrum for individuals. Such a restriction has grave implications for individuals and for the intimate relationships they develop with others.

This workshop will examine gender identities as clustering on two spectra: binary and transcendent and will highlight how prominent and disabling unrecognized gender identity projections can be for both traditional (binary) and non-traditional (transcendent) couples. Since gender identities are defensively projected and “exchanged” most profoundly in intimate relationships along affective, behavioral and cognitive lines, therapists need to learn how to recognize this gender-rich projected material as it emerges in sessions. Particularly, couple therapists need to develop ways to assist clients so that they can move more flexibly from their entrenched notions of gender identity (both self and partner) to more enlivened ones. This will challenge clients and therapists alike to comfortably use transcendent (non-binary) pronouns when appropriate.

This workshop will help you:

• Describe nine gender identity clusters/approximations on two spectra: binary and transcendent
• Discuss projection as a defense mechanism present in all intimate relationships
• Demonstrate ways in which primary gender identity(ies) gets projected
• Compare binary and transcendent gender identities and patterns of projection for couples
• Examine (via case studies) therapeutic evolutions from entrenched to more modified gender identity projections

Presentation Outline/Syllabus

• Welcome
• Gender Identity Lived Within
• Gender Revolution (Katie Couric Video)
• Importance of Language/Definition of Terms (Exercise)
• Building Trust/Safety/Respect: What are Your Pronouns? (Video)
• Gender Identity: Beyond Biology (Subjective “over” Objective)
• Gender Breadth: Affective/Behavioral/Cognitive
• Gender as a Social Construction/The Compulsion to Categorize
• Gender as Performance
• Gender Identities Expressed on Spectra: Binary & Transcendent
• Binary Examples: A Closer Look
• Transcendent Examples: A Closer Look
• Break
• Gender Identity Lived Between
• Our Gender Identities are Constantly Being Expressed Interactively/Projectively
• Gender Pairings in Dyadic Interaction (Image)
• Projection in Intimate Relationships (Welcome to Systems Therapy!)
• Projections: Primary & Secondary Modes
• Self/Sex/Gender Identity/Gender Identity Projections/Sexual Orientation Wheel (Image)
• Couples: What do Binary GIPs Look Like? (Clinical Examples)
• Couples: What do Transcendent GIPs Look Like (Clinical Examples)
• Two Case Studies (gender fumbles and growth in my psychotherapy practice)
• Gender Identity: Moving in a New Direction

Presenter 

Vince Nevins, Ph.D., LMFT (pronouns: he, him, his) has been licensed in California as a Marriage and Family Therapist since 1988. He has maintained a private practice since then and specializes clinically in working with adult individuals and couples. Vince received his PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1995 from the California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley, CA. Vince was also licensed as an LMFT in Virginia for 12 years when he lived there between 1998 and 2010. He continues to consult with couples in the greater Washington, DC area.

Vince is an Assistant Professor in Counseling Psychology at Dominican University in San Rafael, CA and teaches Couple Therapy and Family Therapy. He also teaches practicum seminars and oversees the MFT/PCC traineeship program as Dominican University’s Practicum Director for Counseling Psychology.

Vince has been a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) since 1988 and the Association of Family Therapists of Northern California (AFTNC) since 1992.

Vince recently presented on the topic of gender identity projections in intimate relationships at a day-long workshop to graduate students and licensed mental health professionals at the University of San Diego for the California Chapter of AAMFT. He also presented on this topic in 2019 at one of Dominican University’s continuing education workshops. Vince is scheduled to present his work to the Mid-Atlantic Imago Couple Therapy Association of Washington, DC in fall, 2021.

PLEASE NOTE: This event will be video-recorded. By registering for this event you are consenting to a recording being made which may include your name and video of you in attendance. In addition, an audio recording of this event will be posted on the Marin CAMFT website's events library, and available to members for review and downloading. By registering for this event you are consenting to be recorded and are aware that the recording may be accessed by Marin CAMFT members. If you ask questions or make comments during this event, be aware that your question, name, and/or voice may be contained in this recording.

• Time: 12 noon to 2 pm.

• Cost: Free for Marin CAMFT members, $10 for non-members.

• Location:  Online via Zoom. Password and link sent upon registration.

• Information: For more information about the Friday Continuing Education Series and about joining the Committee, please contact CE Director, Pat Saunders.
  

• Continuing Education Goal: Marin CAMFT is committed to offering continuing education courses to train LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs to treat any client in an ethically and clinically sound manner based upon current accepted standards of practice. Course completion certificates will be awarded at the conclusion of the training and upon participant’s submission of his or her completed evaluation. 

• Refund Policy: Requests for refunds must be in writing and received by the CE Director on no later than ten days before the program. There will be a $25.00 administrative fee to cancel registration for any program. The refund will be sent within ten days of the request.

• Marin CAMFT encourages those who attend its events to respect the fact that some individuals may have allergies to fragrances and pet dander. We ask that you refrain from introducing these elements into our meeting room. Registered service animals are welcome, of course.

• Grievance Procedure: Marin CAMFT will respond to complaints in a reasonable, ethical and timely manner, when submitted by program attendees in writing to the CE Director.

• Anti-Discrimination Policy: Marin CAMFT shall not discriminate against any individual or group with respect to any service, program or activity based on gender, race, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, age or other prohibited basis. Marin CAMFT does not require attendees to adhere to any particular religion or creed in order to participate in training. Marin CAMFT will not promote or advocate for a single modality of treatment that is discriminatory or likely to harm clients based on current accepted standards or practice.

• CE: This workshop meets the qualifications for two hours of continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LEPs and LPCCs. These will be provided by Marin CAMFT (CAMFT Provider # 56895), which is approved by CAMFT to sponsor CE for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs. Marin CAMFT maintains responsibility for this program and its contents contact Pat Saunders, CE Director for more information.