Pride in Mental Health: An Interview With The Trevor Project And Crisis Text Line

This week I had the privilege of speaking with experts, activists, and advocates about the various mental health needs we have in the LGBTQ communities, at an event hosted by Crisis Text Line.  We all agreed that a supportive and continuous, therapeutic relationship is key, for everyone really.  But for those of us who face constant discrimination it can be a matter of life and death.  The trouble is that psychotherapy is stigmatized; not enough clinicians are competent, curious, or empathetic enough to make a connection with LGBTQ clients; and too many people simply can’t afford therapy, or their insurance won’t cover it (if they even have insurance).  The experts I spoke to all fight tirelessly against these obstacles, in order to connect people to the safe, loving, and supportive relationships they need and deserve.   For this segment of my Pride in Mental Health Series, I talk with David Bond, Vice President of Programs at The Trevor Project, (the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ youth), and Shoko Morikawa, Crisis Counselor Supervisor at Crisis Text Line (which provides 24/7 text support to those in crisis, text 741741 for free).   What are the mental health needs of the LGBTQ people who contact your crisis counselors? David Bond: This is a huge huge question.  They are so wide and varied.  On one spectrum, we need to stop pretending that sexual minorit...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news