Feel Secure in Yourself : A Guidebook for LGBTQIA+ People and Those With a Different Label or No Label

This guidebook is designed to increase readers’ personal resilience, self-acceptance, and growth from minority stress. Readers will be encouraged to clarify their beliefs and improve their relationship with themselves. Conflicts can be resolved as readers develop knowledge of themselves and others and consider resilient ways of experiencing sexual/gender diversity. Those who want a stronger sense of themselves before making important life decisions will benefit from reading this guidebook to develop self-awareness, self-value, and self-direction.

The LGBTQIA+ Peacemaking Book Project offers two guidebooks, Feel Secure in Yourself and Relate to Others with Confidence, published by Rowman & Littlefield, and twelve e-resources self-published by each set of chapter coauthors. Each chapter has 4-15 coauthors, with differing and sometimes politically opposing viewpoints, who contributed their ideas and skills regarding the chapter topic. Over 120 scholars, clinicians, and/or community leaders contributed to this project. Their reason for this collaboration was to find common ground, reduce prejudice, and improve LGBTQIA+ health and self-development for a wide range of readers.

These resources are written for the general public and can be used by academics, clinicians, researchers, religious leaders, parents, and other providers. They are for conservatives and progressives who want to learn updated and integrated ideas and skills about sexuality, gender, race/ethnicity, faith/purpose of life, emotional health, resilience, and relationships.

Overall, this book project is a social experiment of bridge-building and hope to empower readers with identity development and skill development and reduce the side-taking that impairs growth. We hope readers can resolve more conflicts personally and socially and experience more peace. Especially in these divisive times, this book project may serve as an inspiration for other projects.

About the Editors

Lee Beckstead (he/him), PhD, is a psychologist in private practice in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is White-Peruvian, gay, cisgender, currently nondisabled, and spiritual with a Latter-day Saints upbringing.

Jacks Cheng, PhD, EdM, [tā [他他], he, they] is a licensed psychologist in public service in New York City. Tā is a queer migrant of Taiwanese heritage to Canada and the U.S.

Dr. Sulaimon Giwa (he/him/his) is an associate professor and interim dean of social work at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. Sulaimon is a scholar-activist who self-identifies as Black, Muslim, and gay.

Mark Yarhouse, PsyD, is the Dr. Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College, where he directs the Sexual & Gender Identity Institute.

Iva Žegura (she, her) clin. psych., mag. psych. is a pioneer in establishing LGBTAIQ+ affirmative and sensitive practices in Croatia and the Balkans, and also the first open LGBTAIQ+ clinical psychologist in Croatia. She is an associate collaborator of the Department of Psychology at the University of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and Rijeka, an associate professor of the Department of Psychology University of Split, Graduate Study in Nursing at Medical Scholl University of Zagreb, IGW Zagreb, Bernays. Currently, she holds the position of EPATH president-elect. She is a white, European cisgender woman.

Contributors

R.A., Lee Beckstead, Jenna Brownfield, Pichit Buspavanich, Nate Cannon, Marty A. Cooper, Edward (Ward) B. Davis, Janet B. Dean, Jeannie DiClementi, Weston V. Donaldson, Samuel Eshleman Latimer, Alejandro Gepp Torres, Sulaimon Giwa, Debra Harley, Heather Hoffmann, Helen Harris, Tekulvē Jackson-Vann, Jeanna Jacobsen, Tyler Lefevor, S.N.M., Candice Metzler, Elizabeth Morgan, Matthew Nielson, Annelise Parkes Murphy, Jeff Paulez, Eduardo Peres, Kristina Pham, Neo Samas, Katina Sawyer, Zabir D. Shaekhov, Steve Stratton, Dr. Alex Toft, Lauren Wadsworth