It was only two years after the Stonewall riots that Identity House was founded. This was several years before the American Psychiatric & Psychological Associations removed homosexuality from their lists of psychological disorders (1973 and 1974 respectively). Hal Kooden and Brad Wilson, two of Identity House’s earliest therapists, were some of those responsible for the removal of homosexuality from the APAS’s DSM-III. It was a time when lesbians and gay men were taking the power to redefine themselves—and were coming together in activist communities. It was in this heady atmosphere that Identity House came into being—founded by a group of professionals and non-professionals reacting to the way we were labeled “sick” by the establishment therapeutic community.
As a way of taking care of our own, and developing our own sense of self, Identity House was conceived as an organization of peers. Members would share their own experience of being gay to reflect and support each other as well as those seeking our services.
Of course, in an organization with so diverse a membership in such tumultuous times, you can expect some creative tension. Early in our history this tension emerged in a dispute between those who sought to structure Identity House as a hierarchical, more traditional service organization dominated by credentialed professionals and those who sought to keep its mix of peers and professionals working together and equally determining direction and policy. This dispute led some people to leave and they formed the Institute for Human Identity (IHI) which still exists.
This creative tension between peers and professionals remains. Many I House peers in fact are professionals, or are in graduate school in social work or psychology. They bring a level of knowledge to their work that benefits everyone in supervision. And there are just as many (or more) peers who volunteer with no “professional” application in mind. They bring the value of their life experience which also benefits everyone. The tension between—and within—these groups is healthy and enriches Identity House.
Working at Identity House promotes the personal growth of volunteers, as well as provides clinical, social and referral services for the lesbian and gay community. We ourselves constitute a community—an integral part of the I House philosophy is that we exist to promote the learning and growing experience of ourselves as well as our clients. Ideally, the work we do for the community we also do with each other.
We all work together and process together as peers in supervision. Thus, as a “peer” organization it is inappropriate for clinical policies to be determined by members’ professional status outside Identity House. Working at I House is not about performing a role—it’s about the values we bring and share with each other in the process of self-exploration and growth as we counsel others.
At the same time, I House owes a great debt to the contributions of professionals. Many of its traditions as an organization derive from the principles of Gestalt therapy. A good number of its founders were involved in the Gestalt therapeutic community. The ways in which members facilitate groups, run meetings, and communicate with each other evolved from this ground even though today its therapists represent a broad spectrum of modalities.
When I House started, it didn’t offer much training for those who worked as counselors. Its decision making system of consensus, and of training workshops for short term counselors and group leaders, developed over time. These trainings were not developed with professional credentials in mind. They focused on the growth of members and the improvement of community service.
It cannot be emphasized enough that the essence of the I House Clinical Program is the promotion and enhancement of members’ individual growth and responsibility. This growth comes from participating in a process allowing for and supporting experimentation. Supervision both assists that process and maximizes benefits to the community of I House members and the larger lesbian and gay community.
Identity House began operating out of the basement of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Chelsea (as did Gay Youth, the West Side Discussion Group and a number of other gay organizations in the late 60s and early 70s—the gay movement owes that church a debt). For a while we functioned in the office apartment of one of our founders, Patrick Kelley. In time, we were able to afford our first home, on 6th Avenue between 14th and 15th Street. In 1991 we moved to our current address, with the help of a bequest from Patrick Kelley who died in 1984. And the hard work and sweat of many members.
Many of these original members are still part of I House today. Often people who first come to I House as clients eventually are screened-in and work as peers—or as therapists This is something unique about I House it is continually refreshed by new members coming from the community served. Not only is Identity House the oldest all volunteer gay and lesbian organization in New York City, it’s also the oldest group in which women and men have successfully struggled together. This is another arena for “creative tension”.
There are many people in addition to Patrick Kelley who were there at the beginning to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. They include Sidney Abbot, Michael Altman, Jeff Arnold, Bernice Goodman, Karen Humphrey, Lucy Iannicello, John Kane, Barbara Love, Brad Wilson and Lee Zevy.
