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About ihi
Our
Mission | Our History | Our
Achievements | Our Friends and Supporters
Our
Mission
ihi’s
mission is to provide professional mental health services to all
who need them. We welcome everyone without prejudice in regard to
cultural, sexual or gender orientation. Our therapists are screened
for their sensitivity to people of varied backgrounds and life experiences.
Our diverse, well-trained staff is flexible in utilizing different
approaches and able to tailor therapy to the specific needs of each
client. Because Ihi
is also a training institute, the therapists who work with us are
skilled professionals engaged in a continuing growth process.
Our
History
ihi
was founded in 1973 to fill an important need: providing affirmative
professional mental health services to the LGBTQ community and to
all persons stigmatized and labeled because their lifestyles may
not conform to current social norms. After leading the successful
struggle with the American Psychiatric Association to have homosexuality
removed from the list of mental disorders, the founders of Ihi
recognized the need for a therapy center that could address people’s
emotional problems while respecting and fostering their unique identity.
Our
Achievements
- Launching
the fight to have homosexuality removed from the American Psychiatric
Association’s list of mental disorders
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Introducing professional counseling by LGBTQ-affirmative therapists
at a time when only peer counseling was available
-
Training literally hundreds of psychotherapists with the special
skills necessary to serve the LGBTQ community
-
Maintaining a staff of authors and active researchers on issues
pertaining to identity development, especially for persons who
transcend traditional cultural limits.
A sample of our current and former staff authors includes:
Suzanne Iasenza, PhD, Lesbians and Psychoanalysis
Otto Ehrenberg, PhD, The Psychotherapy
Maze
Charles
Silverstein, PhD, The Joy of Gay Sex
Jack Drescher, MD, Psychoanalytic
Theory and the Gay Man
Edward Tejirian, PhD, Sexuality and
the Devil
Miriam Colbert Ehrenberg, PhD,
The Intimate
Circle: Sexual Dynamics of Family Life
Our
Friends and Supporters
We are proud to say that many outstanding therapists
working in the field today were schooled at Ihi.
Perhaps the most famous of our alumni is Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who
was trained by our founder, Dr. Charles Silverstein, prolific author
in the field of LGBTQ studies. Our list of eminent sponsors –
including Charles Busch, playwright and actor, Blanche Wiesen Cook,
historian, Clare Coss, playwright, Martin Duberman, PhD, founder
of the City University Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, and Edmund
White, novelist – affirms Ihi’s
reputation, the viability of its mission, and the relevance of the
services it provides.
If
you would like to join our list of supporters and/or make a tax-deductible
contribution to Ihi,
please contact Dr. Miriam Colbert Ehrenberg, our Executive Director
212-243-2830 or
ihi-lgbt@juno.com.
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