Trainings to Enhance Substance Use Programming for LGBTQ+ Youth and Adolescents
Available research indicates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) adolescents or sexual minority youth report higher rates of substance use compared to their cisgender1 and heterosexual counterparts.2 Rates are reportedly higher due to having negative or adverse experiences that stem from discrimination based on their gender or sexual identities and are compounded by stressors that are endemic to this community.3
Substance use among LGBTQ+ youth often decreases when youth can identify environments that are supportive of their lived experience.4 Recent research shows that when schools are more inclusive to LGBTQ+ youth, the risk of suicide among LGBTQ+ youth decreases.5
Georgia’s youth and adolescent substance use programs have a unique opportunity to better support the mental and behavioral health of LGBTQ+ youth. Given the increased rates of substance use among this community, it is important to foster affirming therapeutic environments that are inclusive of LGBTQ+ culture and their unique needs.
The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities’ Office of Addictive Diseases and Office of Behavioral Health Prevention, the Center of Excellence for Children’s Behavioral Health, and Theater Delta collaborated to design and implement a two-part webinar series and theater-based trainings and workshops across the state6 for program staff and partners of the Recovery Support Clubhouses, Intensive Residential Treatment facilities, and Prevention Clubhouses.
The two-part virtual webinar and in-person trainings reached more than 80 professionals. It expanded knowledge and understanding of LGBTQ+ youth experiences, improved attitudes and empathy among professionals providing services, and equipped professionals to consider the unique experiences of LGBQT+ youth and adolescents and practice repairing mistakes and ruptures in relationships. Seven professionals were trained as trainers to facilitate additional opportunities at their workplace.
Recorded versions of the two-part webinar series are below, as well as the resources provided during the training.
1 Cisgender is defined as a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex registered for them at birth.
2 Institute of Medicine. (2011). The health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people: building a foundation for better understanding. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
3 Meyer, I. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674-697.
4 Eisenberg, M., Erickson, D., Gower, A., Kne, L., Watson, R., Corliss, H., Saewyc, E. (2020). Supportive community resources are associated with lower risk of substance use among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning adolescents in Minnesota. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 49, 836-848.
5 Ancheta, A., Bruzzese, J.M., Hughes, T. (2021). The impact of positive school climate on suicidality and mental health among LGBTQ adolescents: a systematic review. Journal of School Nursing, 37(2) 75-86.
6 These trainings and workshops were designed with the support of a community advisory board, representing professionals providing substance use and mental health services to LGBTQ+ youth and adolescents.
