Increasing Accessible and Competent Healthcare for LGBTQIA+ Individuals
MHANKYSWOH is addressing barriers to accessibility, quality, competency and barriers to mental health care for adults and youth who identify as LGBTQIA+ in the Greater Cincinnati region. Addressing these issues requires a multi-faceted approach, including behavioral health provider trainings and Pro-Bono Counseling.
Behavioral Health Provider Training
21% of adults in America are experiencing a mental illness and that there are an estimated 350 individuals for every one behavioral health provider. While individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community seek therapy at higher rates that the general population, often expecting more barriers to receiving mental health care, the rate of satisfaction reported was less than 40% (The LGBTQ Reducing Mental Health Disparities Report, 2012). These findings highlight the need for investment in the behavioral health workforce in order to meet these unmet needs and the need for that investment to include culturally competent behavioral health providers who can provide quality services to the LGBTQIA+ community.
To invest in the behavioral health workforce and increase cultural competency of local behavioral health providers, MHANKYSWOH provides education with the training An Introduction to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity for Behavioral Healthcare. This training provides foundational knowledge on sexual orientation and gender identities across generations, and increases the participant’s knowledge of the social, emotional, and physical healthcare challenges sexual minorities face. Participants gain skills for recognizing and working with this population and providing culturally responsive services to LGBTQIA+ individuals in mental health and substance use disorder treatment settings. Content focus areas include: gender identity and sexual orientation definitions, physical health challenges, mental health and substance use development, barriers to treatment , and other related concerns for LGBTQIA+ individuals. The curriculum also provides treatment strategies and considerations for clinical work that have been proven effective within this population.
This course has been approved for 6 Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) by the State Of Ohio Counseling, Social Worker, Marriage and Family Board and the Kentucky Social Work Board. MHANKYSWOH has been providing this course since 2020, with an ongoing overall average evaluation score of 4.86/5.0. From 2023-2024, 235 behavioral health providers completed the course An Introduction to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Behavioral Healthcare. Additional mini-trainings requested by training attendees covered topics including:
- Pronouns: The Respect Everyone Deserves
- Healing Religious Trauma
- Uplifting the LGBTQIA+ BIPOC Community
- Uncovering Unconscious Bias
- Behaviors and Identities in the Queer Community
Mini-trainings were attended by 148 participants, and 97% of trainees reported increased knowledge and skills to provide culturally competent care.
Interested in bringing this training to your organization? Contact Kara Atwell at katwell@mhankyswoh.org.
Pro-Bono Counseling (PBC)
MHANKYSWOH’s Pro-Bono Counseling (PBC) program links mental health providers to adults in the Greater Cincinnati area for short-term counseling services. PBC is a free service available to adults who are unemployed, uninsured, under insured, or unable to afford traditional counseling services. In addition to eliminating the barrier of cost, the program attempts to eliminate the barrier of travel; Pro-Bono Counseling services are available in-person and via telehealth in order to serve individuals in the environment most beneficial to them.
We’re also focusing on increasing awareness and accessibility of the Pro-Bono Counseling program to adults in the region who identify as LGBTQIA+. MHANKYSWOH is focusing on community outreach and marketing to LGBTQIA+ adults in order to obtain recruitment and referrals to the program. This includes connections to schools and universities, social service organizations, victims’ services, churches, hospitals, behavioral health professional associations, other non-profit organizations and outreach at events where these connections can be made. As a result of the outreach efforts, MHANKYSWOH is increasing the provision of Pro-Bono Counseling services to LGBTQIA+ adults in our region at no cost to the individual.
Providers identified for this project in the Pro-Bono Counseling program are Master’s level licensed clinicians as well as social work students, and will have completed the course An Introduction to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity for Behavioral Healthcare.