Meet your LGBTQ+ Affirming Care Course Experts
Hayden Dawes, LCSW, LCAS, has been a professional public speaker and consultant since 2014. He provides dynamic continuing education seminars on race and racism within mental health practice and the importance of self-tending practices while working in mental health and healthcare settings. After years of providing mental health treatment to diverse populations in various settings, including inpatient, outpatient, and the community, Dawes decided to pursue a PhD at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of social work, where he teaches research and practice courses. His research interest primarily lies in improving mental health treatment for people of color and LGBTQIA+ individuals. He currently has a private practice, Courage(Inside)Out, PLLC, to serve this population.
Regarding leadership, he has been on the board of directors and vice president of the North Carolina Society for Clinical Social Work. Hayden currently serves on the executive council of the American Academy of Psychotherapists. In 2020, Hayden became a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – Health Policy Research Scholar, a competitive, prestigious nationwide fellowship to support the next generation of scholars committed to creating health equity. When not reading, writing, conducting research, or practicing therapy, Hayden enjoys mindless scrolling on Instagram or Twitter. He’s also picked up another hobby of doing stand-up comedy.
Alex Iantaffi, PhD, MS, SEP, CST, LMFT (they/them) is a family therapist, WPATH certified gender specialist, AASECT certified sex therapist, Somatic Experiencing® practitioner, clinical supervisor and author. Alex is a founding member and past chair of the Trans and Queer Interest Network of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and current president of the Minnesota Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (MAMFT). They have researched, presented and published extensively on gender, disability, sexuality, relationships, and HIV. They are a transmasculine, nonbinary, bi-queer, polyamorous, disabled, Italian immigrant and parent who has been living on Dakota and Anishinaabe territories, currently known as Minnesota since 2008. Alex is the author of award-winning book
Gender Trauma: Healing Cultural, Social, and Historical Gendered Trauma and co-author of the books
How to Understand Your Gender: A Practical Guide for Exploring Who You Are, Life Isn’t Binary, How to Understand Your Sexuality, and
Hell Yeah Self-Care: A Trauma-Informed Workbook. They also host the podcast Gender Stories. You can find out more about them at
www.alexiantaffi.com or follow them on Twitter and Instagram @xtaffi.
Lexi Mulee, LMHC, C-DBT, founder of Wise Mind Counseling specializes in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and applies it in her work with populations with borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, and substance use disorders, more specifically within the LGBTQ youth community. Lexi got her undergraduate degree at Hofstra University and pursued her graduate degree at the University of Miami. Lexi has been in the field for over 10 years and works extensively with each client to ensure their unique goals are being met. Having both experiences working at the inpatient level of care and the outpatient level of care, Lexi works uniquely with each client to ensure that their treatment is never one size fits all, but rather personalized for each individual’s needs and strengths. Lexi understands that navigating the world in 2024 as a member of the LGBTQIA community comes with its unique set of challenges and hurdles, and strives to create a safe space for clients to explore themselves, their individualized challenges and hurdles, and strives to create a safe space for clients to explore themselves, their individualized challenges, and their newfound skills to live a more effective, and thriving life!
Hi there – I am Dr. Brendan J Dunlop (he/him) and I am a Principal Clinical Psychologist.
I currently work part time for an NHS Trust in the Northwest of England. In addition, I work part time as the Deputy Director for Research and Clinical Lecturer in Clinical Psychology on the ClinPsyD clinical psychologist training programme at The University of Manchester, in England. I am also Associate Editor for the academic journal Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice.
I completed my Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree in Psychology and Language Sciences at University College London, and my Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at The University of Manchester. I am also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
I have now either studied or worked in mental health care for 11 years. This has included work within prisons and secure forensic mental health care, with children and young people, with those that have had a brain injury or a stroke, with people that have intellectual disabilities, with people living with HIV, and adults that have severe and enduring mental health difficulties.
Nanette Lavoie-Vaughan, CDCP, ANPC-C, DNP, has over 30 years of experience in the geriatric field. Previously she has worked as a nurse practitioner, director of nursing, and staff nurse across various settings as she has focused in on her specialty of geriatric/dementia care. Nanette shared her knowledge with others as a clinical assistant professor at East Carolina University College of Nursing, a clinical instructor at UNCG and an adjunct faculty member at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Nanette has presented nationally and internationally on dementia, pain management, caregiver issues, and topics specific to long-term care.
She is the author of Eldercare: The Comprehensive Guide to Caregiving and a new evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the non-pharmacological management of behavioral problems in dementia. Her expertise and research are recognized through published work in Clinics of North America and in book chapters and online continuing education modules. Nanette also serves as an expert witness for several law firms and was a Sigma Theta Tau Faculty Mentor.
Her educational accomplishments include an MSN from Florida State University, a DNP from Vanderbilt University and a postdoctoral fellowship in ethnogeriatrics at Stanford University.
Margaret L. Conley, LCSW, MDiv, (She/Her/Hers), is the Executive Director of MLC Consulting, LLC, and the President of Mending Life Concepts Empowerment Group, Inc. She is a Licensed Clinical Social worker in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee where she provides crisis services and trauma-focused clinical therapy. Margaret is trained as a trauma therapist in Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, Brainspotting, EMDR, and Adlerian Play Therapy. Margaret is a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator and LEGO® Serious Play® Facilitator. Margaret is a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor endorsed by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
Margaret produced an evidence-based model which is a clinically aligned theological method designed for use by clergy, academics, and clinicians to help lead the conversation around Faith-Based Trauma in individual and community settings. She is the founder of Healthy and Holy® Conversations and the producer of the Healthy & Holy® Summit.
Margaret received her Bachelor of Art focused on Sociology and Anthropology with a concentration in child welfare services from Valdosta State University. She received her Master of Social Work degree from Clark Atlanta University in 2009. Margaret completed her Master of Divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center in 2013.
Lucie Fielding, PhD, MA, LMHC, (she/they) is a white, neurodivergent queer, trans misogyny affected (TMA) femme, and a therapist practicing in Virginia and Washington (on Monacan lands and unceded Duwamish territory, respectively). They specialize in sex therapy, kink-knowledgeable therapy, 2SLGBTQIA-knowledgeable therapy, sex work-affirming therapy; and they work from the narrative, imaginal, and somatic frameworks that honor the (intergenerational) wisdom of the body, promote community-care, and support empowered embodied eroticism. She holds an MA in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute (2018) and a PhD in French from Northwestern University (2008), specializing in erotic literature. Their background in literature attunes them to the ways that cultural scripts inscribe themselves on our bodies and inform our embodied erotic lives. In addition to being a therapist, Lucie is a sex educator who has facilitated workshops for a range of groups, organizations, universities, and agencies. They are the author of Trans Sex: Clinical Approaches to Trans Sexualities and Erotic Embodiments (2021), which was awarded an AASECT BookAward (Lammy) in the Transgender-Nonfiction category. You can find out more about Lucie at luciefielding.com or follow them on Instagram (@sexbeyondbinaries).
Deb Coolhart, PhD, LMFT, is a private practice clinician and an assistant professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy Department at Syracuse University. She has been doing therapy with LGBTQ youth and their families for nearly 20 years. She created the Transgender Treatment Team in Syracuse University’s Couple and Family Therapy Center, where she trains and supervises master’s students to work with transgender people and their families.
Dr. Coolhart has several publications on clinical work with LGBTQ youth. Her recent work has focused on transgender youth and their families. She has developed a tool for assessing youths’ and families’ readiness for gender transition treatments, published in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. She has also published multiple manuscripts on supporting transgender youth and families in therapy and advocating for trans-affirmative school environments. Recently, she co-authored a book, The Gender Quest Workbook: Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity. Additionally, Dr. Coolhart has conducted research on transgender people and their family relationships and the experiences of LGBTQ homeless youth.
Tristan Martin, PhD, LMFT, is a private practice sexuality/gender therapist and professor in Syracuse, New York. He utilizes an affirmative and sex positive stance to connect and create change. Clinically he provides support for gender, sexual, erotic and relationally diverse communities, with specialization in supporting gender transition for youth and adults. Dr. Martin has presented at multiple national conferences and contributed publications to the field of family therapy on transgender issues.
