Course Name

The 'Queer Adjusted Systemic Lens': An Affirming Approach for Queer Clients and their Relationships

Continuing Education Credits

Completion of this course will provide six (6) Continuing Education Credits with the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) & the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC).
Instructor

August Tousignant-Stanton, LCSW, LMFT (they/them)

Format

Two Parts:

3-Hr Video Release: 
Mon., Jan.12th, 2026

3-Hr Live Class:
Fri., Feb. 13th, 2026
1:00 - 4:30 PM MST

(includes breaks)
Price
  • Various pricing for students, DFI Alumni, and professionals.
  • Any student who enrolls with their school email can take this course FOR FREE! (See below for details.)

Course Description

Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) have been taught to employ an unbiased perspective with couple and family systems, which allows them to build relationships with all the members in a complicated system. However, this often happens to the detriment of those in the queer community, where the validity of the queer identity becomes a matter of perspective, and risks and benefits to the queer community become negotiable.

The Queer Adjusted Systemic Lens (QASL) allows clinicians to affirm the identity of clients, values the risks and benefits to queer thriving, while still building successful and maneuverable relationships with all the other members of the family or relationship’s system.

Learning Objectives

  • Describe the need for the QASL
  • Name the core tenets of the QASL
  • Name the five categories of QASL interventions
  • Differentiate between therapy uninformed by QASL and therapy informed by QASL
  • Describe examples of the various QASL interventions
  • Demonstrate QASL skills through a case study

Detailed Agenda

Agenda for Synchronous Webinar Class
1. Welcome and re- introduction to the training (5 minutes)
2. Review of objectives (5 minutes)
3. Questions/comments on Part I (15 minutes)
4. Review of the five QASL interventions (45 minutes)
5. Break (10 minutes)
6. Practice interventions with the QASL (45 minutes)
7. Break (10 minutes)
8. Processing practice/integration of learning (45 minutes)
9. Wrap-Up (20 minutes)

*Note: The 3-hour live virtual course will be taught on Friday, 13 February, 2026.
The recording will be available 7 to 10 days later for A la carte purchase & viewing.

ABOUT THE Instructor

August Tousignant-Stanton, LCSW, LMFT (they/them)

August Tousignant-Stanton (they/them) is a therapist, supervisor, and speaker through their private practice Affirming Psychotherapy LLC. August holds a masters in social work and a certificate in marriage and family therapy, and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). August is also the Program Director at Denver Family Institute and is the Lead Clinician on the newly-developed Systemic Provider Training for Queer Youth Clients (SPT) program at Denver Family Institute. August has over 12 years of experience in the field, and specializes in working with LGBTQIA+ youth and their families as well as intimate partner relationships. August has presented to various groups in the Denver community, including medical practices, Sherwin Williams, and Optum Health. They live in Denver with their wife and three young children.

Course Pricing

Our Pricing Policy: 
In order to make our material as accessible as possible, we offer the following discounts:
Established MFT / Mental Health Professional [5 yrs+]
$420
Newer MFT / Mental Health Professional [1 - 4 yrs] 
$357
Use code "NEWPRO" at checkout.
DFI Alumni
$315
Use code "DFIALUMNI" at checkout.
Non - DFI Student
$273
Use code "STUDENT" at checkout.
Current DFI Student
$181
Use code "DFISTUDENT" at checkout.

Free Course Enrollment With 
School Email Address

The "Queer Adjusted Systemic Lens" course is an emerging model that provides clinicians and youth-serving professionals ways to approach queer-affirming and gender-affirming mental health care, which is often not taught in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy. 

To help "queer the field" of Marriage and Family Therapy, this course is available for FREE to ANY person with a valid school email address!  

To secure your free enrollment:

1) Click the "Enroll" button below,
2) Complete the Enrollment Form, and use your school email address. (Any other email address will result in a rejection.)
3) In the "Have a Coupon?" section, use coupon code "FREESTUDENTQASL" (all capital letters). This will make the price $0
4) Click "Buy" and you're done! The course will be unlocked and available for viewing starting Monday, January 12th, 2026.

(If you have any problems, contact Miguel Valdez, Program Manager, at MiguelValdez@denverfamilyinstitute.org)

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