Abstract

Many graduate mental health trainees, and practicing creative arts therapists, reflect not having enough training on working with sexual and gender minorities, which suggests a gap in existing curricula. Creative arts therapies are acknowledging a cultural shift, and the possibilities of adopting social models towards culturally sensitive practice and challenging the power dynamics of societal hierarchies which influence the field and the context of training. This paper will highlight the researcher’s experience co-creating a group for queer students in creative arts therapies, the motivations for creating such a group, and the contributions to learning that it offered. Through an autoethnographic approach, literature and personal narratives together offer explorations of frameworks for applying critical theory to creative arts therapy training, as well as considerations for LGBTQ clinicians and the impacts of the student group created. This group established a resource for connection and social support amongst queer students, networking and engaging in a professional community, educational and outreach activities as well as advocacy and awareness promoting greater inclusion in the field.