Hall:
Chair:
Dispenza Franco
Discussant:
Nakamura Nadine
Division:
The intersections of ethical care and psychological practice usher unique challenges and opportunities when
working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals from a global context.
Grounded in the values of clinical/community and counseling psychology, we examine how international
psychologists (from the United States, Canada, Iran, Portugal, and South Africa) draw from Ethical Principles
(e.g., APA, Yogyakarta) and UN Sustainable Development Goals (3, 5, and 10) to advance LGBTQ+ mental
health. The session will explore critical ethical challenges including confidentiality, competency development
across cultural boundaries, informed consent with vulnerable populations, and advocacy within professional roles.
Presenters will demonstrate ethical decision-making that balances clinical rigor with community empowerment,
particularly when working with LGBTQ+ individuals facing structural oppression and minority stress in different
countries.What distinguishes this symposium is its integration of international perspectives with clinical/community,
counseling, and professional psychologists' ecological approach to address an urgent global need: culturally
responsive care that centers healing and systemic change. With rising displacement of LGBTQ+ people from
restrictive regions, psychologists require ethical frameworks that transcend pathology and deficit saturated
clinical models while maintaining ethical integrity.Additionally, presentations will explore how to foster
culturally sensitive therapeutic relationships, adapt assessments and psychological evaluations, and implement
training that respects diverse identities and experiences.
Our multinational panel brings diverse expertise.Dispenza(US; Chair)opens the session with a theoretical
overview of psychological ethics, whereas Nakamura(US; Discussant)closes the session with a global view of
ethics across international contexts.Farhadi Langroudi(US and Iran)contextualizes ethical frameworks when
providing psychological care to diverse LGBTQ+communities across the Arab and Middle Eastern diaspora, and
Carvalho (Portugal) addresses structural stigma from a European context and explores ethical adaptations to the
clinical assessment and practice with LGBTQ+ clients living with chronic physical illness. Fuks (Canada)
explores immigrants and refugees navigating intersecting pressures of cultural adaptation and queer identity
development in Canada, and Nel(South Africa)considers ethical and legal considerations when upholding
human rights and challenging discriminatory practices in aSouth African context. Lastly, Skinta (US) integrates
ethicalpracticewithsociopoliticalawarenessininternational LGBTQ+training.
