Continuing Education

Clinical Excellence Meets Lived Experience - Continuing education for affirmative psychologists on working with LGBTQIA+ clients taught by queer and trans mental health providers

For many, finding a therapist is a step toward growth and healing. But for those within LGBTQIA+, Consensually Non-Monogamous (CNM), and Kink communities, stepping into a therapist’s room may be a step toward further stigmatization.

While these groups represent a vast spectrum of human experience, they share a common, systemic burden: minority stress. This stress is a result of ongoing discrimination, marginalization and victimization related to gender and sexuality.

In 2018, Dr. Cadyn started The Affirmative Couch, which provided online courses for psychologists on working with sexuality-, gender-, and relationship-expansive communities. In 2025, The Affirmative Couch closed its doors due to several personal, business, and political challenges. Out Couch Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy was able to transfer Dr. Cadyn and Melissa’s courses and the approval from the APA as a CE sponsor.

Our Courses

A Systemic Gap in Affirmative Care

With approximately 9 million LGBT people in the United States, the need for care is massive.

LGB clients frequently encounter heterosexual bias and a dismissive attitude toward their identities.

Transgender and nonbinary clients are denied access to healthcare, housing, and employment at rates greater than the general population.

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Despite these experiences, the current mental health landscape often fails to provide safe, competent support. Less than 30% of psychologists possess the competence required to work with transgender and gender nonbinary individuals. Individuals in these communities face increased challenges in personal relationships housing and employment stability, and religious or spiritual conflicts that are frequently mirrored within therapy rooms across the country.

Continuing Education and Cultural Humility

The path to better health outcomes is through affirmative therapy. We believe that every individual deserves a therapist who doesn’t just “tolerate” their identity but seeks to understand and celebrate it.

Out Couch Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy provides recorded homestudies that offer:

In-Depth Education: High-quality, evidence-based courses that go beyond the basics.

Clinical Competency: Training designed to build confidence and competence in working with a wide range of identity experiences.

Accessible Resources: Ensuring that any therapist, anywhere, can access the tools needed to serve LGBTQIA+, CNM, and kinky clients.

Meet Your Instructors

Cadyn Cathers holding a coffee cup in front of LGBTQIA+ flags on a desk

Cadyn Cathers, PsyD, MBA

Dr. Cadyn has been teaching graduate level psychology since 2011 and started teaching continuing education for post-doctorate level clinicians in 2018. He is the founder and CEO of Out Couch Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.

Melissa Dellens, MA, LMFT

Melissa has been teaching continuing education courses since 2021 and teaching graduate level psychology courses since 2022. She is the Chief Education and Compliance Officer at Out Couch Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.

Sociopolitical Stress & Politicized Identities

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APA Approved Sponsor

Out Couch Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, P.C. is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Out Couch Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, P.C. maintains responsibility for this program and its content.