Queer LifeSpace Gives Lecture on LGBTQIA+ Community’s Access to Mental Healthcare to Graduate Students at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA
Students enrolled in the Masters in Counseling Program at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California participate in a brainstorming session about challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ people when seeking out mental healthcare. (7/30/22)
On a sunny afternoon in July, thirty-three students and two instructors gathered to participate in a lecture and brainstorming session presented by Queer LifeSpace on the LGBTQIA+ community’s access to mental healthcare, including various challenges and obstacles that queer people face as they seek out support.
The students were enrolled in the Masters in Counseling Program at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. The lecture and subsequent conversation were an important exploration of what many of the student therapists will inevitably face as they start to work toward the clinical hours they need for their counseling licenses.
After the lecture, one student remarked: “I was reminded that many therapists have not educated themselves on many facets of life for LGBTQIA+ clients. Thus clients end up needing to educate their therapists, taking time and efficacy away from sessions.”
Unfortunately, this is an issue many queer clients encounter when speaking with their therapists. Because of a lack of familiarity with queer-specific challenges and terminology, the client often has to spend time educating the clinician. This is why it’s so critical for emerging therapists to be well-versed in the mental health and societal struggles of many marginalized groups. It not only allows the therapist to be of the utmost help to their clients, but it can also surface unconscious biases which the therapist might possess — providing an opportunity to examine and process those biases in a healthy way.
In a brainstorming session (pictured above), students broke into teams and identified an array of other challenges queer people face when seeking mental health support, including regressive insurance practices, cost, lack of accessibility and availability of therapists, lack of robust external support (such as friends and family), and internalized homo/transphobia from other clients and/or therapists.
These aforementioned challenges are precisely why Queer LifeSpace exists, and why it functions as a clinical training site for the next generation of queer-affirming therapists. We understand how important it is to provide accessible space for LGBTQIA+ people so that they can feel safe.
Whether or not the student therapists go on to work with queer-specific populations, they will inevitably at some point work with a queer client. According to a recent Gallup Poll survey, approximately 7.1% of the U.S. population identifies as being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
It is more important than ever to be able to offer help and support to our fellow community members.
To learn more about the Wright Institute and its PsyD and M.A. programs, please visit their website.
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