MOVING BEYOND CHANGE EFFORTS: EVIDENCE AND ACTION TO SUPPORT AND AFFIRM LGBTQI+ YOUTH

4.25 clock hours Continuing Education Credits are provided as a written home-study session. The certificate of completion will be emailed to you within 10 minutes after passing the post-test.

Content Areas:

Counseling Theory/Practice and the Counseling Relationship Social and Cultural Foundations

This course is built off of the SAMSHA report: Moving Beyond Change Efforts: Evidence and Action to Support LBGTQI+ Youth which is written for multiple audiences including behavioral health providers, pediatric professionals and primary care providers, educators and school professionals, policymakers, and researchers. Families, parents, caregivers, and community leaders may also find it useful. This report, Moving Beyond Change Efforts: Evidence and Action to Support and Affirm LGBTQI+ Youth, provides behavioral health providers, researchers, policymakers, and other audiences with current knowledge about LGBTQI+ youth, a comprehensive research overview, and important information on behavioral health concerns within this community. More specifically, the report provides details on helpful and harmful interventions for these populations in clinical, community, family, and school settings. In particular, the report documents that attempts to change an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI; pronounced “SO-gee” change efforts) are harmful and should not be provided. Additionally, this report discusses evidence-informed policy options that could improve the overall health and well-being of LGBTQI+ youth. As the abbreviation LGBTQI+ suggests, this population is not homogenous. It includes individuals with many distinct sexual orientations and gender identities.

Even though the evidence is more limited regarding intersex persons, they are included in the acronym LGBTQI+ except when it would be inappropriate to do so, such as within journal article citations or a formal resource name. Additionally, LGBTQI+ is used interchangeably with “sexual and/or gender minority,” and persons, orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and variations in sex characteristics. Sexual and gender minorities are also diverse with respect to other identities, including age, race, ethnicity, language, national origin, religion, spirituality, ability, and socioeconomic status.

Critically, LGBTQI+ youth experience significant physical and behavioral health inequities which are reviewed.

Several factors contribute to these inequities and result in minority stress, which is harmful to behavioral health, including:

• Stigma

• Negative social attitudes

• Systemic barriers in health care for LGBTQI+ people

• Rejection and lack of support from families, caregivers, and communities

• Bullying and harassment, and lack of recognition and support in schools

Course Objectives:

learn how to ensure that evidence-based care is accessible by:

Preventing bias on gender-affirming care,

Improving access to behavioral health and gender-affirming care, and

Training and educating themselves to improve care

Familiarize themselves with best practices in supporting LGBTQI youth

Gain an understanding of SOGI CEs and how SOGI CEs impact LGBTQI youth

Learn about the behavioral health challenges that LGBTQI youth face

Familiarize themselves with beneficial therapeutic approaches when working with LGBTQI youth.

Gain an understanding of gender development in youth.

Other Course Information:

Partial credit/partial attendance is not allowed for this course.

If you have any questions about this course or would like to request accommodations, you can contact us.

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