Al., 2019 ). when compared to their cisgender, heterosexual counterparts, lgbtq + individuals report disproportion- ately high rates of stress-associated concerns—such as depression, anxiety, and suicidality—due to the discrimi- nation that results from their minoritized status in society (meyer, 2003 ; russell & fish, 2016 ). given the scope of their behavioral health needs, clinical social workers require basic competence in affirmative practice (a thera – peutic approach that asserts the value of lgbtq identi- ties and experiences in a context of structural inequities) to work with lgbtq populations (alessi, 2013 ). despite an increase in field lgbtq specific training such as cultural competence (kaiafas & kennedy, 2021 ), positive space training (haghiri-vijeh et al., 2020 ), and for specific populations (e.g. gerontologists; smith et al., ), many graduate clinical programs continue to have gaps in their explicit lgbtq curricula, particularly related to applied skill development. consequently, this paper details the qualitative results of a competency-based simulation-based learning (sbl) activity in a graduate social work course, which highlights the importance of experiential educa- tion in the development of affirmative clinical skills with lgbtq populations, specifically in group therapy. this research sought to articulate: (1) clinical competencies for