Social Services for Senior Gay Men and Lesbians

Social Services for Senior Gay Men and Lesbians is an important new reference that provides those in the helping professions with practical information on how to work with the older gay and lesbian population. Although older gays and lesbians are the same in many ways as their heterosexual counterparts, they have an extra “layer” of concerns that are unique to their sexual orientation, including “coming out” to family and medical professionals, fear of discrimination, isolation, and loneliness. This new book helps social service providers address these and other concerns of the aging homosexual.

Social Services for Senior Gay Men and Lesbians examines the history of homosexuality and how practitioners have developed ways to better serve this population. The book features case studies of topics that face practitioners and their older gay clients, including:

• housing needs of older gay and lesbian adults
• group therapy for older gay males
• long-term care dilemmas for older lesbians
• counseling an older gay male who is “coming out”
• staff development for non-gay social service providers
• historical review of gay and lesbian issues
  
  Because so little information exists in these and other areas, Social Services for Older Gay Men and Lesbians is an excellent resource for social workers, psychologists, nurses, counselors, and physicians.