The Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: A Trauma-Informed and Human Rights Perspective

Trauma-informed and affirmative mental health practices with LGBTQ+ clients.

“…In the early 1990s, researchers (Felitti et al, 1998) developed a tool to measure ACEs. Compared to the general population, LGBTQ+ clients are more likely to have a history of childhood trauma than the general population (Craig et al, 2020;Elze, 2019;Merrick et al, 2018). In a study of 248,934 adults in 23 states, the average ACE scores for gay/lesbian and bisexual participants were 2.2 and 3.2, respectively, compared to an average of 1.6 for those identifying as "straight" (Merrick et al, 2018).…”

“…LGBTQ+ people have endured oppression, discrimination, and microaggressions throughout history which remains a prominent problem (Austin et al, 2019;Elze, 2019). This injustice has its roots in cultural and structural transphobia, homophobia, and cisgenderism.…”

Gender and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Beyond the Binary

“…A trauma-informed approach is important to ensuring ongoing access to high-quality, patient-centered care. 34 Trauma-informed care is a method designed to minimize the risk of retraumatizing people by proving culturally sensitive care, building on strengths, and facilitating opportunities for connection. 35 During clinical encounters, NPs should demonstrate respect for patients' agency by using the same language the patient uses to describe their body, asking consent before touching the patient, describing each examination step before proceeding, and letting the patient know that the examination can be stopped at any time.…”

Working With Suicidal and Homeless LGBTQ+ Youth in the Context of Family Rejection

“…It is helpful to adopt a trauma-informed approach (Elze, 2019 ), which essentially asks “what happened to this person?” instead of “what is wrong with this person?” and accepts that any LGBTQ+ person who is seeking clinical help probably experienced bullying, harassment, violent victimization, discrimination, and stressors of living in an intolerant society that may have traumatized them. Clinicians need to be willing to try to empathize with LGBTQ+ youths’ lives and developmental experiences.…”

“…Clinicians should adopt an attitude of “cultural humility” and regard developing of cultural competence at treating LGBTQ+ patients as a learning curve that may require some personal transformation (Ruud, 2018 ). This process starts with critically examining one’s own beliefs about sexuality and gender that they may have learned from their own family, culture, or religion (Elze, 2019 ).…”