LAGPA - About Us

The Lesbian and Gay Psychotherapy Association of Southern California (LAGPA) was established in 1992 as an organization of mental health professionals interested in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clients.

LAGPA members are actively involved in expanding the role of psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and marriage, family, and child counselors who serve the greater LGBTIQ community of Southern California.

While LAGPA is oriented toward mental health professionals, individuals desiring to join LAGPA are not required to be licensed.

LAGPA's purpose is to facilitate social and professional networking for mental health professionals in the greater Los Angeles area. LAGPA seeks to join such individuals together for academic and social events, to develop educational community outreach activities, to foster and promote a positive gay & lesbian identity, and to serve as role models for all members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

Members of LAGPA are committed to the process of developing the finest psychological skills for working with clients confronted with the complexity of personal issues related to being LGBT in a homophobic world.

Executive Committee

Rev. Alexander Yoo, M.Div., M.A.: CO-PRESIDENT

A leading Gender Diversity Clinician and Applied Community Psychology Specialist, Alexander educates mental health and medical providers, businesses, institutions, community organizations, government bodies, and educational systems on gender issues and administrative practice.

As a Community Psychology Specialist, he focuses on person-environment interactions and the ways larger, societal, and systemic factors impact upon individual and community health and wellness.

A nationally recognized author and educator in print and on radio, film, and television and recipient of numerous awards and honors, he provides sensitivity, cultural competency, and EEO Compliance training as a private organizational development consultant and offers diverse peer consultation and psychotherapeutic services.

He also serves as the Vice President of FTM International, the largest and longest running (22 years) FTM trans organization in the world, active in all 50 states, all Canadian provinces, and 18 countries. He also serves as its newsletter editor-in-chief. Alexander also founded GenderQueer Revolution, a unique organization serving the needs of and celebrating genderqueer, gendergifted, gender non-conforming individuals and communities worldwide.

He also serves on LAGPA board and recently took on newsletter editing duties. He also serves on the Community Advisory Board of The Center of Excellence for Transgender HIV Prevention.

An ordained minister, he considers the work with the various communities in which he lives, LGBTIQ, people of color, people of faith, eclectically spiritual, those working through the difficult questions of grief, loss, faith, spiritual community, spiritual identity, philosophy, sexuality, and gender, all part of his spiritual calling and ministry. He sees psychotherapy clients as an intern out of private practice, and he also works in hospice as a chaplain and specializes in grief, loss, aging, our changing bodies, and death.

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Bruce R. Watkins, Ph.D.: CO-PRESIDENT

Fred Wilkey, Ed.D: SECRETARY / TREASURER

Board of Directors

Jen Durham, M.A.

Lauren D. Costine, Ph.D.

Lauren Costine, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist, educator, feminist, and activist with offices in both Santa Monica and West Hollywood. She received her MA in Psychology at Antioch University Los Angeles in 2001 and her PhD in Clinical Psychology with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2007; her dissertation focused on the role of the repression of the sacred feminine in the heteronormative society and how it affects female sexuality as it relates to the creation of consciousness. Her focus is on addiction and codependence issues, co-occurring disorders, depth psychology, LGBT-affirmative psychotherapy, and psychodynamic and family systems modalities with individuals and couples. For many years she was the Family Counselor at Exodus Recovery Center actively involved in helping the patient’s families find direction and solutions, educating patients on the realities of substance abuse and how to develop new coping skills, plus treatment planning and implementation for co-occurring disorders and chronic substance abuse problems. She facilitated many groups such as Stress Management, Psychological Process, Trauma and How it Relates to Addiction, Family and Codependence issues, and the weekend Family Process Groups. She lectured on Narcissism and Borderline Personality disorders in the Addictive World at Exodus’ CME forums.

She has also played a pivotal role in the development and management of the LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology, the first such program of its kind in the country, as an Associate Faculty member and instructor in the Masters in Psychology program. Besides guiding the development and implementation of the ground-breaking affirmative curriculum as an associate and member of the “LGBT Specialization Founders,” she has helped to produce a variety of grassroots psychological cultural events aimed to promulgate LGBT affirmative psychological ideas for the community in an accessible way through performances at Highways, the creation of the “Clothesline Project” and the conception of events at Antioch itself, such as A Different Light Bookstore’s book readings, the Trans Teach In, and the Sapphic Salon. She has taught such courses as; Process I: Beginning Therapeutic Techniques, Society and the Individual, LGBT Community Action and Independent Studies; Intimate Partner Abuse, Domestic Violence, and LGBTQ Oppression and Empowerment; Bisexuality: A Sexual Orientation, LGBT History and Myth, Lesbian Liberation: Finding it through Identity, Love, and Sexuality. She has also presented at the APA Convention in the LGBT division (44), LAGPA (Lesbian and Gay Psychotherapy Association) in 2007, The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center’s Women’s Health Conference, “Mind, Body and Soul,” in 2008 and 2009 and will be presenting, her theoretical concept, The Sapphic Complex, at APA’s 2010 Conference this August in San Diego.

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