Episode 80 | DBT with LGBTQ+ Clients: Building a Life Worth Living While Cultivating Queer Joy with Dr. Kiki Fehling

Featured Book:

Using ACT and CFT for Burnout Recovery: The Beyond Burnout Blueprint by Shaina Siber

Kindle: https://a.co/d/0iAlSrhC

Paperback: https://www.routledge.com/Using-ACT-and-CFT-for-Burnout-Recovery-The-Beyond-Burnout-Blueprint/Siber/p/book/9781041074304

Course Information: https://canva.link/qz2pet5l95q2jch

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Episode Summary: Psychologist, author, speaker, and Linehan Board-Certified DBT Expert Dr. Kiki Fehling joins The Affirming Minds Podcast to discuss LGBTQ+ mental health, minority stress, identity invalidation, and the role of Dialectical Behavior Therapy in fostering resilience, self-love, and queer joy.

Together, we explore the history of LGBTQ+ mental health care, affirmative practice, and how DBT skills can help individuals navigate shame, stigma, and discrimination while building lives that feel meaningful, authentic, and connected.

Dr. Fehling is the author of The LGBTQ+ Mental Health Workbook: Find Emotional Resilience, Self-Love, and Queer Joy with Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

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About Our Guest:

Dr. Fehling is a clinical psychologist, author, and DBT-Linehan-Board-Certified expert in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). She began training in DBT early during her graduate education at Rutgers University under Dr. Shireen Rizvi, a student of Dr. Marsha Linehan, and received years of direct supervision and training on DBT, BPD, and suicide/self-harm assessment. Under her research mentor Dr. Edward Selby, she received several research grants and published research manuscripts about suicide and self-harm, particularly in LGBTQ+ adults. She continued her training on DBT/suicidality during her predoctoral internship at Montefiore Medical Center and during her postdoctoral training at NYCBT. At NYCBT, she became a full-time staff clinician, coordinating the program’s LGBTQ+ DBT program. She remains active in mental health advocacy and the dissemination of evidence-based therapies. She is a Psychology Today blogger and contributor to other publications; she co-wrote a published self-help workbook (Self-Directed DBT Skills) and is working on other projects, and she regularly shares DBT skills and mental health tips on social media (@dbtkiki).