professional portrait

Syracuse University Falk College Marriage and Family Therapy
410 Peck Hall,
601 East Genesee St.
Syracuse, New York  13203

315.443.1232
dcoole@syr.edu

CV available upon request

Deborah Coolhart

Ph.D., LMFT
Associate Professor

Deb Coolhart has designed and taught graduate courses and supervised the clinical work of master’s and doctoral students in the Couple and Family Therapy Center. Under her leadership, the Gender Expansive Support Team was created and continues to provide services in the Central New York community. Coolhart is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with a private practice in Fayetteville, NY. She is a Clinical Fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and an AAMFT-approved supervisor. Her previous professional experience includes being an Assistant Professor of Community and Human Services at SUNY’s Empire State College and a Research Health Science Specialist at the VA Medical Center in Syracuse. Dr. Coolhart’s scholarly interests include clinical issues related to marginalized and queer experiences/relationships and intersectionality, with a particular focus on clinical issues of trans people and their families. Her research and publications have focused on trans youth and their families, trans family support, trans parents and their children, LGBTQ homeless youth, and trans sexuality. Her co-authored book, The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity, has been translated into three languages and has sold over 20,000 copies. Clinically, Dr. Coolhart has been working with trans people for over 20 years and has become a nationally recognized expert in the area, providing regular consultation for professionals working with the trans population. Additionally, she is a national speaker regularly presenting on working with LGBTQ youth, their families, and school systems. In 2004, Dr. Coolhart created the Gender Expansive Support Team, housed in SU’s Couple and Family Therapy Center, where students gain specialized training working with trans people and their families, including working with clients regarding their readiness for medical gender transition.

Education

Ph.D. Marriage and Family Therapy, Syracuse University

M.A. Marriage and Family Therapy, Syracuse University

B.S. Psychology and Family Studies, Central Michigan University

Specialization

Trans/queer experiences in family and couple relationships.

Courses

MFT 885 - Qualitative Research Methods in Family Therapy

MFT 862 - Advanced Couple Therapy

MFT 662 - Systems Dynamics in a Group Setting

MFT 661 - Introduction to Family Therapy Practice

MFT 642 - Therapy with LGBTQ Couples and Families

MFT 567 - Sexual Issues for the Helping Professional

Recent Publications

  • Coolhart, D. (in press). Queer Couples. In J. Lebow & D. Snyder’s (Eds.) Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy (Sixth Edition). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Coolhart, D., & Martin, T. K. (in press). Gender Affirmative Therapy with Trans and Gender Expansive Youth: Listening to Youth and Thoughtfully Following Their Lead. In R. Harvey & M. Murphy’s (Eds.) Handbook of LGBT-Affirmative Couple and Family Therapy (Second Edition). New York: Routledge Press.
  • Martin, T. K., & Coolhart, D. (2019). “Because Your Dysphoria Gets in the Way of You…it Affects Everything.” The Mental, Physical, and Relational Aspects of Navigating Dysphoria and Sex for Trans Masculine People. Sexual and Relationship Therapy.
  • Coolhart, D. (2018). Helping Families Move From Distress to Attunement. In C. Meier & D. Ehrendaft’s (Eds.), The Gender Affirmative Model: A New Approach to Supporting Gender Non-Conforming and Transgender Children.
  • Coolhart, D., Ritenour, K., & Grodzinski, A. (2018). Experiences of loss and ambiguous loss for parents of transgender male youth: A phenomenological exploration. Contemporary Family Therapy.
  • Coolhart, D., & Shipman, D. L. (2017). Working towards family attunement: Family therapy with transgender and gender nonconforming children and adolescents. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 40, 113-125.
  • Testa, R. J., Coolhart, D., & Peta, J. (2015). The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
  • Addison, S., & Coolhart, D. (2015). Expanding the Therapy Paradigm with Queer Couples: A Relational Intersectional Lens. Family Process, 54(3), 434-453.
  • Coolhart, D., Baker, A., Farmer, S., Malaney, M., & Shipman, D. (2013). Therapy with Transsexual Youth and Their Families: A Clinical Tool for Assessing Youth’s Readiness for Gender Transition. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 39(2), 223-243.