Ways that Therapists Can Be of Help to Polyamorous Individuals and Partners
- Helping one partner to decide how to raise the idea of becoming polyamorous to another
- Helping partners to decide if polyamory is right for them
- Helping partners to decide what form of polyamory is best for them
- Helping partners to negotiate the agreements and boundaries of their relationship
- Helping polyamorous individuals to locate polyamorous communities in their region
- Pointing them to resources such as articles and books and websites on polyamory
- Helping polyamorous individuals to approach the coming out process
- Helping polyamorous individuals to cope with and combat discrimination
- Helping partners in a troubled relationship to negotiate solutions
- Raising social awareness of polyamory, and combating stereotypes / prejudice
- Changing language on forms (i.e. name of partner/s, not name of spouse)
- Noting in counseling center brochures that polyamory is understood/accepted
- Learning more on their own about polyamory issues, using the resources listed
- Expanding textbooks on family psychology to include a chapter on polyamory
Polyamory Resources
Loving More Magazine and Web Site
poly@polyamory.org (or by sending email to listserv@polyamory.org with the body of the message reading
SUB POLY firstname lastname)
The Loving More Lists -- Publicly accessible web and email based lists on topics such as poly discussion, poly activism, poly parenting and others.
Subscribe at http://www.techmesa.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl
Web site of polyamory-aware mental health and legal professionals
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the following people for their assistance in proofreading and improving this paper:
- Barbara A
- David Corbett
- Johnny D
- Joe M
- Mom
- Hugh Stearns
About the author:
Dr. Geri Weitzman is a licensed psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She sees clients from a variety of alternative communities, and she offers workshops and consultations on polyamory for health professionals and others who are interested in learning more about the topic. She can be contacted via email at gdw@numenor.org
Reprinted January 15, 2006.
