Arlene Istar Lev

Arlene (Ari) Istar Lev LCSW-R, CASAC, is a social worker, family therapist, educator, and writer whose work addresses the unique therapeutic needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. She is the Founder and Clinical Director of Choices Counseling and Consulting providing individual and family therapy and the Director of TIGRIS—The Institute for Gender, Relationships, Identity, and Sexuality, a post-graduate training program in Albany, New York. Arlene is a part-time lecturer at the State University New York at Albany, School of Social Welfare and is the Project Director of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Project (SOGI). She is also an adjunct at Smith School of Social Welfare as well as Empire College where she teaches Sex and Gender in a Cross-Cultural Perspective. Arlene has authored numerous journal articles and essays including authoring two books: The Complete Lesbian and Gay Parenting Guide and Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and their Families winner of the American Psychological Association (Division 44) Distinguished Book Award, 2006. Arlene is the Founder of Rainbow Access Initiative, a training program on LGBT issues for therapists and medical professionals in the Capital Region and the Clinical Supervisor for Center Support: Counseling Services, a low-cost therapy program at The Pride Center of the Capital Region. She serves on the editorial Boards of The Journal of GLBT Family Studies, and The International Journal of Transgenderism. Arlene was a committee member of WPATH’s 7th revision the Standards of Care. Arlene is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the American Psychological Association (Division 44) and is on the Board of the American Family Therapy Academy, where she was the 2011 Conference Chair.