Megan Speciale, PhD
Position:
Contact Information:
mspeciale@paloaltou.eduPrograms:
Master's
Biography:
Dr. Megan Speciale is an Associate Professor in the Counseling Department at Palo Alto University. She received her PhD in Counselor Education (CACREP) from the University of New Mexico, where she served as the Clinical Coordinator at the UNM Manzanita Counseling and Training Center and co-founded the LGBTQ Counseling Center at the UNM LGBTQ Resource Center.
Megan has worked as a professional counselor and advocate in a variety of community settings, focusing primarily on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) populations and sexuality wellness with children, adolescents, adults, and families. As a counselor educator, she draws from social justice and equity-centered pedagogies in her teaching of Sexuality in Counseling, Group Counseling, Substance Abuse Counseling, Multicultural Counseling, and others. Her research explores the intersection of sexual, mental, and relational health, focusing on such topics as kink/BDSM, sexual shame, sexual and gender identity, sex education, and sex work. She is also the current Editor-in-Chief for The Thoughtful Counselor Podcast and the Associate Editor for the Journal of Counseling Sexology and Sexual Wellness.
Talks and Lectures:
- Sex, Love, and Intimacy in the Time of COVID-19 – A Conversation with Stacey Diane A. Litam
- Working with Clients who Practice Kink & BDSM – An Interview with Margie Nichols
- Counseling Infidelity – A Conversation with Dr. Talal Alsaleem
- Sexual Healing after #MeToo: Conversations on What Counselors Need to Know
Selected Publications:
- Speciale, M. (2020). Negotiating sexual values in counselor education: A qualitative case exploration. Journal of Counseling Sexology and Sexual Wellness, 2(1). https://doi.org/doi:10.34296/02011032
- Speciale, M. & Scholl, M. (2019). LGBTQ-affirmative career counseling: An intersectional perspective. Career Development Network Journal, 35, 22-35.
- Speciale, M. & Lemberger, M. (2017). Sexuality counseling: A dialectical humanist approach. In J. Hansen & M. Scholl (Eds.), Postmodern Perspectives of Counseling. Oxford University Press.
- Speciale, M.Speciale, M., Gess, J., and Speedlin, S. (2015). “You don’t look like a lesbian:” A co-autoethnography of intersectional identities in counselor education. Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, 9(4), 256-272.
- Speciale, M. (2015). Beyond the binary: A multidimensional exploration of sex and gender in group counseling supervision. In M. Luke & K. Goodrich (Eds.). Group Work Experts Share Their Favorite Supervision Activities. (pp. 46-55). Alexandria, VA: Association for Specialists in Group Work.