About Kalen
Kalen D. Zeiger, PhD, LMFT, CCTP, CFTP, is a marriage and family therapist licensed in Colorado, Iowa, and Wisconsin, with certifications in clinical and family trauma work and advanced EMDR skills. They teach at Antioch University in the couple and family therapy, sex therapy, and gender-affirming practice programs, and they lead clinical development at Radiant Pathways Counseling and Wellness, a Colorado practice where they see clients online.
Kalen's clients are mostly LGBTQ+ individuals, partners, and families dealing with trauma, anxiety, and minority stress. That includes gender-affirming care and the assessments and letters that go with it. They started in 2008 as a peer counselor in a parent support program in Missouri, trained at a domestic violence shelter, and then at the University of Iowa ran therapy groups and helped direct the LGBTQ Counseling Clinic while teaching undergraduate courses on child development and family relationships. They have founded several LGBTQ+ support and therapy groups in Missouri and Iowa.
Their research looks at how identity develops under minority stress and at the ways standard assessments and diagnostic wording exclude transgender, nonbinary, and genderqueer people. They completed a PhD in couple and family therapy at the University of Iowa in 2024 and have published in Sexuality and Culture and in Sexual and Gender Diversity in Social Services.
Areas of expertise
Role at Psychology.com
Kalen is the named reviewer for Psychology.com's trauma and relationships content and for pages on LGBTQ+ mental health. Pages they have personally reviewed carry a "Reviewed by" line with the date. They check each page against current clinical guidelines and peer-reviewed research and flag anything that needs correction or added nuance.
Read our editorial policy for the full process.
Reviewed by Kalen D. Zeiger on Psychology.com
Content reviewed by Kalen D. Zeiger will be listed here as it is published. We only mark a page "Reviewed" when this board member has personally read it.
Selected publications and press
- Zeiger, K. D., and Ball, D. (2022). How the compulsory gender binary language in the DSM-5's category of sexual interest disorders interacts negatively with patients' nonbinary and genderqueer identities. Sexuality and Culture
- Gutierrez, D., et al. (2024). Loss of safe spaces: ambiguous loss and minority stressors of BIPOC LGBTQ+ communities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Sexual and Gender Diversity in Social Services
- State-level education policies: opportunities for secondary prevention of child maltreatment. Policy report, co-author
- Child care subsidies: opportunities for prevention of child maltreatment. Policy report, co-author