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Three hundred ninety-two lesbian and gay volunteers described their experiences with 923 therapists, reporting therapist sexual orientation, therapist gender, and perceived helpfulness of the therapist in each case. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual therapists of both genders and heterosexual female therapists were all rated more helpful than heterosexual male therapists. Participants also reported whether each therapist exhibited 9 negative and 4 positive practices. Relative risk ratios indicated that 8 of the 9 negative therapist practices were significantly associated with (a) client designation of a therapist as unhelpful and (b) termination after 1 session. All 4 of the positive practices were inversely associated both with unhelpful ratings and with termination after 1 session. Therapist practices accounted for more of the variance in ratings of helpfulness than did therapist demographic characteristics.

Workplace climate refers to formal and informal organizational characteristics contributing to employee welfare. Workplace climates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) employees range from actively supportive to openly hostile. An instrument measuring LGBT workplace climate will enable research on vocational adjustment of LGBT workers and will benefit practitioners doing vocational counseling and consultants working to improve corporate environments. Three rounds of data collection contributed to the construction and validation of the LGBT Climate Inventory (LGBTCI). Use of qualitative data in item construction contributes to content validity. Factor analysis suggests that the LGBTCI measures a single construct. Measures of related constructs (work satisfaction and discrimination) correlate moderately with the LGBTCI, supporting its construct validity. The LGBTCI demonstrates excellent internaland test-retest reliability.

Relationships between secondary traumatic stress (STS) symptoms and therapist characteristics and assignment variables were examined for 81 disaster mental health (DMH) workers who responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Higher STS was associated with therapist variables of heavier prior trauma caseload, less professional experience, youth, and therapist's discussion of his or her own trauma or trauma work in his or her own therapy. Therapist gender and personal trauma history were not significantly related to STS. Assignment variables associated with higher STS included longer length of assignment and more time spent with child clients, firefighters (who suffered great losses in the tragedy), or clients who discussed morbid material. Recommendations for practice include informing DMH recruits of therapist risk factors and assigning at-risk DMH workers to lower-risk assignments.

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