Katie Heiden-Rootes
PhD, LMFT

Katie Heiden-Rootes PhD, LMFTKatie Heiden-Rootes PhD, LMFTKatie Heiden-Rootes PhD, LMFT
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Katie Heiden-Rootes
PhD, LMFT

Katie Heiden-Rootes PhD, LMFTKatie Heiden-Rootes PhD, LMFTKatie Heiden-Rootes PhD, LMFT
  • Home
  • New Client Paperwork
  • Trainings
  • Scholarship & Resources
  • Publications & Media
  • Blog

Research is formalized curiosity - Zora Neale Hurston

About the work

Community Engaged

Behavioral Health Workforce Building

LGBTQ+ Celebrating

LGBTQ+ Celebrating

Behavioral Health Workforce Building

LGBTQ+ Celebrating

Behavioral Health Workforce Building

Behavioral Health Workforce Building

Behavioral Health Workforce Building

Current LGBTQ Projects

LGBTQ Youth Go to Family Therapy

Family acceptance and support is suicide prevention and seeds of health and hope for LGBTQ youth. Through a community-engaged project, we sought to bring evidence-based family therapy practice to Missouri for equipping mental health professionals to engage the families of LGBTQ adolescents to improve acceptance and support. This project is funded by Missouri Foundation for Health. A research report can be found here.


A new, public resource guide for families and those who work with families with LGBTQ Youth to promote seeking LGBTQ-affirming family therapy:      

LGBTQ YOUTH GO TO FAMILY THERAPY: Stories of Opening Up, Listening to Feelings, and Taking On Ghosts 


Recording of June 2023 Webinar Launch of the Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_2wcvNgHAc&t=8s 

Free Resource Download

Growing Up in Religious Families: Health, Partnering, and Exposure to Change Efforts

Families and religion impact the health, partnering practices, and risk of exposure to sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts. This is a multifaceted project began in 2015 aimed at using both qualitative interviews and national surveys for understanding the experiences of LGBTQ adults who grew up in religious families. Publications are available for reporting on the study findings: 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jmft.12323

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jmft.12442

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00918369.2020.1804255

Current Clinical education Projects

Transgender Patient Experiences in Healthcare

Community-engaged scholarship with the St. Louis transgender community through the Transgender Health Collaborative @ SLU is producing interprofessional scholarship and innovations in clinical education.


Educator resource: Advancing Inclusion of Transgender and Gender Diverse Identities in Clinical Education Toolkit


Current Behavioral Health Workforce Projects

Readiness of MFT Graduates to Work Effectively with Youth from Vulnerable Communities

In the St. Louis metropolitan area, the demographics suggest a large and growing youth population vulnerable to poor behavioral health. Early intervention and prevention efforts by mental health professionals trained to address and strengthen family relationships are a key element to an effective behavioral health workforce for addressing the needs of youth and their families in the region. 


At Saint Louis University we created the Integrated Behavioral Health Fellowship for funding marriage and family therapy masters students, clinical psychology doctoral students, social work masters students, and psychiatry residents in a year long internship and experiential educational fellowship. 


This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Health Resources and Services Administration through a Behavioral Health Workforce Development grant. Publications are available for reporting on the study findings:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01926187.2021.1958270


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