Providing Affirmative Mental Healthcare: 6 Things You Should Know

“VITAL VIBRANT VOICES” is the theme of National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week. The National Coalition for LGBTQ Health is proud to announce the “VITAL role of VIBRANT and diverse VOICES in raising awareness about the health challenges facing the LGBTQ community.”

Healthcare professionals play a necessary role in supporting the LBGTQ+ community, by providing affirmative relationships that don’t perpetuate attitudes of ignorance or discrimination. In therapy, mental health providers work with various experiences and attitudes, not only from clients, but also those with whom they are interconnected …their families, partners, schools, religious or community organizations, employers, and healthcare systems.

Embracing diverse identities, especially related to sexual orientation and/ or gender identity and expression is an important aspect of promoting self-acceptance, self-love, and mental-health well-being. There is such amazing beauty in diversity and the diversity of voices, and celebrating the energy, life, and excitement within therapy is such a wonderful experience.

While exploration of aspects of self is ongoing, adolescence is a key developmental period. During self-discovery and identity development, many youths struggle to find acceptance and safety. Trevor Project survey results report that less than 1 in 3 transgender and nonbinary youth felt that their homes were gender-affirming. 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Having social support makes a significant difference. LGBTQ youth who felt high social support from their family attempted suicide at less than half the rate of those who felt low or moderate social support.

As a mental health provider, it gives meaning to help those who are struggling by building upon strengths within families and communities, and to help raise awareness for mental health within the LGBTQ community.

Mental health concerns impact folks from all ages and stages of life. Health challenges of clients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, asexual, or another description (e.g., two-spirit, intersex, pansexual, gender) that differs from identities of heterosexual, heteroromantic, and cisgender may present with a wide range of topics to process in therapy. These may or may not be related to sexuality or/ or gender. Healthcare providers should not make assumptions about clients, including their experiences, needs, or present concerns based on their identities. Providers should challenge biases that have stemmed from historical, invalid assumptions, including healthcare and US society in general.

NAMI Minnesota’s Basic Steps Toward LGBTQ Affirmative Mental Health Practice offers some great strategies which include, but are not limited to the following:

• Know that LBGTQ+ affirmative care is part of providing culturally competent care.
• Educate yourself; this should be an ongoing process.
• Understand heterosexism and learn how to ally with the LGBTQ+ community.
• Be open to dialogue and conversations; work to seek understanding in times of miscommunication and work to repair the relationship.
• Understand that LGBTQ+-affirmative mental health workers have unique strengths and challenges when sharing the same or similar intersecting identities when working with their clients.
• Acknowledge that some healthcare providers may focus on the negatives due to the challenges of living as an LGBTQ+ person which can discount the positives of the inherent strengths of LGBTQ+ identities.

Written By: Charlotte Johnson, MA, LPCC