Affirming and Empowering Mental Health Care for Gender-Diverse Individuals
$10.00
Presenter:Â Â Dallas Ducar, NP
Dallas Ducar NP is the founding Chief Executive Officer of Transhealth Northampton. Dallas is on faculty at Northeastern University, the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Nursing, and has served on faculty at the MGH Institute for Health Professions. She has advised international research groups in best-practices and has carried out community-based participatory action research programs. Dallas seeks to revolutionize healthcare, building novel systems to provide holistic, empowering, gender-affirming care.
Overview: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Gender identity is a person’s inner sense of being a female, male, another gender, or having no gender. Gender minorities have a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth, and this misalignment can create severe and persistent psychological distress. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) identifies this distress as gender dysphoria, citing both an internal conflict and external experience of stigma, discrimination, or violent victimization as triggers (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Wilson, Chen, Arayasirikul, Wenzel, & Raymond, 2015). Gender dysphoria can lead to significant clinical impairment and is often associated with decreased ability to function socially, occupationally, or to care for oneself.
Gender affirmation is the process of treating gender dysphoria. Gender-affirming care consists of being recognized in one’s gender identity rather than the sex assigned at birth. Patients with access to these treatments experience improved health outcomes and quality of life (WPATH, 2016). This care is best delivered by a team of providers, including nurses, physicians, social workers, and clinic staff (Chipkin & Kim, 2017)
Gender minorities face discrimination, victimization, isolation, and significant health disparities, but remain understudied and underrepresented in health research (Grossman, D’Augelli, & Frank, 2011). There are approximately 30,000 GMs in Massachusetts (Flores, Herman, & Gates, 2016). GMs are less likely to have access to primary care than cisgender individuals (i.e., those with congruent sex assigned at birth and gender identity) (Gonzales & Henning-Smith, 2017; Streed, McCarthy, & Haas, 2017). GMs are also less likely than cisgender individuals to possess health insurance and more likely to have no routine evaluation by a clinician (Gonzales & Henning-Smith, 2017; Streed et al., 2017). Gender-based discrimination is common in healthcare. In a study conducted in Massachusetts on the GM population, 30% refused to be seen for routine primary care, 25% avoided urgent care management, and 14% were unwilling to be seen for emergency care (Bradford, Reisner, Honnold, & Xavier, 2013; S. Reisner et al., 2014)
The significant level of societal stigma and discrimination that GM individuals face, the associated mental health consequences, and mental health clinicians’ lack of familiarity with affirming care demonstrate a crucial need for additional education. Mental health clinicians play a crucial role in supporting, exploring, and affirming gender identity across the lifespan. As more individuals are continually coming out, mental health clinicians play an important role in educating families and colleagues, providing affirming care across the lifespan, intervening with an interdisciplinary team, and reducing stigma within organizations. centers.
Learning Objectives:
- Compare gender identity, gender expression, emotional attraction, and sexual attraction
- Explain ways to provide individualized and attentive care for gender diverse patients.Â
- Demonstrate core components of gender-affirming mental healt
Description
Presenter:Â Â Dallas Ducar, NP
Dallas Ducar NP is the founding Chief Executive Officer of Transhealth Northampton. Dallas is on faculty at Northeastern University, the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Nursing, and has served on faculty at the MGH Institute for Health Professions. She has advised international research groups in best-practices and has carried out community-based participatory action research programs. Dallas seeks to revolutionize healthcare, building novel systems to provide holistic, empowering, gender-affirming care.
Overview: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Gender identity is a person’s inner sense of being a female, male, another gender, or having no gender. Gender minorities have a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth, and this misalignment can create severe and persistent psychological distress. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) identifies this distress as gender dysphoria, citing both an internal conflict and external experience of stigma, discrimination, or violent victimization as triggers (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Wilson, Chen, Arayasirikul, Wenzel, & Raymond, 2015). Gender dysphoria can lead to significant clinical impairment and is often associated with decreased ability to function socially, occupationally, or to care for oneself.
Gender affirmation is the process of treating gender dysphoria. Gender-affirming care consists of being recognized in one’s gender identity rather than the sex assigned at birth. Patients with access to these treatments experience improved health outcomes and quality of life (WPATH, 2016). This care is best delivered by a team of providers, including nurses, physicians, social workers, and clinic staff (Chipkin & Kim, 2017)
Gender minorities face discrimination, victimization, isolation, and significant health disparities, but remain understudied and underrepresented in health research (Grossman, D’Augelli, & Frank, 2011). There are approximately 30,000 GMs in Massachusetts (Flores, Herman, & Gates, 2016). GMs are less likely to have access to primary care than cisgender individuals (i.e., those with congruent sex assigned at birth and gender identity) (Gonzales & Henning-Smith, 2017; Streed, McCarthy, & Haas, 2017). GMs are also less likely than cisgender individuals to possess health insurance and more likely to have no routine evaluation by a clinician (Gonzales & Henning-Smith, 2017; Streed et al., 2017). Gender-based discrimination is common in healthcare. In a study conducted in Massachusetts on the GM population, 30% refused to be seen for routine primary care, 25% avoided urgent care management, and 14% were unwilling to be seen for emergency care (Bradford, Reisner, Honnold, & Xavier, 2013; S. Reisner et al., 2014)
The significant level of societal stigma and discrimination that GM individuals face, the associated mental health consequences, and mental health clinicians’ lack of familiarity with affirming care demonstrate a crucial need for additional education. Mental health clinicians play a crucial role in supporting, exploring, and affirming gender identity across the lifespan. As more individuals are continually coming out, mental health clinicians play an important role in educating families and colleagues, providing affirming care across the lifespan, intervening with an interdisciplinary team, and reducing stigma within organizations. centers.
Learning Objectives:
- Compare gender identity, gender expression, emotional attraction, and sexual attraction
- Explain ways to provide individualized and attentive care for gender diverse patients.Â
- Demonstrate core components of gender-affirming mental health
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