Celebrating Pride: Affirming LGBTQ+ Identities

June is Pride month – a time to celebrate and advocate for the lives and rights of those who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Even though in some states legislation has come a long way to protect those who express their sexuality and gender in a multitude of ways, much work remains to be done. Especially in not just accepting members of our community who identify as LGBTQ+, but also in affirming them. This is a particularly important step when considering the needs of LGBTQ+ youth.
 
In the past year, screening data reported by Mental Health America national saw a rise in mental health complications of LGBTQ+ youth. From Jan. to Sept. 2020, nearly 78,000 youth reported experiencing frequent suicidal ideation, including nearly 28,000 LGBTQ+ youth, due to the isolation and loneliness brought on by social distancing measures. However, LGBTQ+ youth are also greatly impacted by issues within their support system at home, which may be broken or even abusive.
 
The Buckeye Ranch, a service partner of MHAOhio that provides emotional, behavioral, and mental health services for children and families, has recognized the disproportionate challenges for LGBTQ+ youth, becoming a safe and affirming space in partnership with Kaleidoscope Youth Center, Mozaic, and other community partners.
 
“Being a part of the LGBTQ+ community myself, this opportunity to become an affirming space that offers mental health support for youth and their families was huge to me,” says Rhonda Cumberbatch, a home-based clinician for The Buckeye Ranch and youth services advocate for the Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), a program of Equitas Health. “Being able to provide a place where they can go talk to somebody or get help with whatever it is that they’re needing is so crucial. We’re also building points of connection with all of these organizations doing the same kind of work so that we can better serve the community.”

Rhonda explains that affirming someone’s identity goes beyond awareness and acceptance and also acknowledges their challenges as belonging to the LGBTQ+ community.
 
“We need to be able to see young people with everything that they bring and not dismiss certain pieces. We have to treat the whole child,” Rhonda explains. “We’re talking about suicide, depression, anxiety – all these things that could come up based on the way that people are treating them.”
 
As part of the effort to become an affirming space, Dr. Patricia Gentile, the psychiatric medical director at The Buckeye Ranch, has taken a look at the treatment options for LGBTQ+ youth and recognized significant gaps in care.
 
“Oftentimes, clinical terminology, the way we communicate, can be very binary and biased,” she explains. “But the world is not black or white. It’s all these tones of gray in the middle. Every time we communicate, we need to think about how our words may be discriminating against people and how that impacts our care for them.”
 
Building resiliency in LGBTQ+ youth and their families has become a cornerstone of Dr. Gentile’s work. She explains that young people will ultimately lead healthier lives long term when given the tools they need to get through adversity and by building support at home. 
 
“Our best outcome comes from bringing the whole family together to help them understand each other,” Dr. Gentile says. “We want to continue to work until their parents can accept who they are.”
 
This ongoing commitment to be affirming is something all organizations and workplaces can adopt. A good first step is asking someone’s pronouns or displaying employee pronouns in one’s email signature line or on the company website. This is a simple way to signal to LGBTQ+ individuals that you not only accept their identity but are also willing to communicate with them and support them. The Safe Zone Project offers free, self-guided online courses as another step in training. In addition, knowledge of where to refer someone needing safe and affirming outside services can be extremely valuable. As part of their commitment, The Buckeye Ranch has developed a comprehensive list of resources for LGBTQ+ youth and their families.
 
If you or someone you love is looking for additional resources in this area, access MHAOhio’s Get Connected program that works to help people of all backgrounds find care and support when they need it most. When referring program participants to providers, the Get Connected team accounts for their identity and preferences so that they can have the best care possible.