How To Celebrate National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week

Each year in the United States, National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week takes place in March. This observance aims to drive awareness of the millions of LGBTQ+ people  who experience mental health challenges, which are often linked to lived experiences of discrimination. Below, learn more about National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week, the health challenges facing many LGBTQ+ individuals today, and ways to support this diverse community.

About National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week

According to the American Psychiatric Association, individuals from the LGBTQ+ community are more than twice as likely as non-queer individuals to experience a mental illness at some point in their lifetime—with transgender people and queer people of color at even higher risk. LGBTQ+ individuals also tend to experience more physical health challenges, which can affect mental health and vice versa.

Understanding overall health disparities for LGBTQ+ individuals

According to the National Coalition for LGBTQ Health, individuals in the diverse LGBTQ+ community are more likely than the general population to report having poor mental and physical health, including greater risk of infections, chronic fatigue, and ling-term conditions like arthritis. Harvard Medical School states that LGBTQ+ people - particluarly gender non-conforming people, people of color, and youth - have a higher risk of dying by suicide.

These health disparities likely persist due to issues with healthcare availability. In addition to systemic barriers such as cost, anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination still occurs in the healthcare field. According to some sources, one in eight LGBTQ+ people have experienced discrimination in a healthcare setting, with seven in 10 transgender people having experienced transphobia in a healthcare setting and trans people of color even more likely to have such experiences. Such experiences can make LGBTQ+ individuals less likely to seek care at all.

Understanding mental health disparities for LGBTQ+ individuals

In addition to overall health and healthcare disparities, it can be important to point out the mental health-specific disparities queer people often experience as well. Research suggests that LGBTQ+ individuals experience a higher prevalence of depression, suicidal ideation, and substance use—which can often be linked to family rejection, peer bullying, social exclusion, harassment, violence, and other systemic experiences of prejudice.

In addition, discrimination in healthcare and a lack of LGBTQ+ mental health care providers can make seeking support more difficult, which may exacerbate symptoms. Additional barriers to receiving quality care often exist for people from marginalized racial and ethnic backgrounds, immigrants who may not have documentation or insurance, disabled individuals, and those in other marginalized groups.

Efforts to reduce healthcare disparities

Reducing health disparities is understood to require a multi-pronged approach. In addition to promoting systemic change to eliminate identity-based discrimination of any kind, advocacy efforts to increase the availability of culturally sensitive and LGBTQ+-affirming care for medical and mental health care providers may be necessary.

How to celebrate this National LGBTQ+ Health Awareness Week

A core part of National LGBTQ+ Health Awareness Week is about encouraging organizations to provide queer-informed training for healthcare providers and engage in large-scale advocacy work to reduce healthcare disparities. However, individuals can also play a role in these efforts. Each year, the National Coalition for LGBTQ+ Health puts on informational webinars on topics related to queer health to raise awareness. They also share social media graphics that they encourage individuals to repost to inform their circles about these topics.

LGBTQ+-friendly and LGBTQ+-affirming mental health care

Queer-friendly mental health care providers are accepting of queer identities. Queer-affirming mental health care providers are typically specifically trained to validate and welcome all queer identities and experiences through a perspective that takes into account queer history as well as the modern challenges LGBTQ+ people face. Culturally competent providers are specifically trained to be aware of and sensitive to the diverse experiences of people of diverse backgrounds. Being able to connect with these types of providers can be crucial for the well-being of queer people of diverse identities.

A wealth of research indicates that having a strong and trusting therapist-client relationship can be key to providing effective care. Therapists who are trained in how to make LGBTQ+ people—especially gender non-conforming people and people of color—feel safe, accepted, and understood are likelier to be able to form this type of relationship queer clients, therefore improving treatment outcomes.

Finding an informed therapy provider near you

There are several different options for locating a queer-informed therapist in your area. Seeking a referral from a queer community center or health clinic, asking queer friends how they found their therapist, or using an online directory are a few examples.

Other therapy options for LGBTQ+ individuals

Many people live in areas with few mental health providers in general or few queer-friendly practitioners. Others don't feel comfortable attending in-person therapy for a variety of reasons. In such cases, LGBTQ+ clients seeking mental health care might consider exploring online therapy instead.

With a platform like BetterHelp, you can state your preferences in a therapist on a brief questionnaire when you sign up, and you can then be matched with a licensed provider accordingly. Once matched, you can meet with your therapist via phone, video, and/or in-app messaging from anywhere you have an internet connection. Online therapy also tends to be more affordable than in-person therapy without insurance, which can help reduce this barrier to care for some individuals.

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The effectiveness of online therapy

A growing body of research points to the effectiveness of online therapy in many cases. For example, consider one study which suggests that internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)—a common, evidence-based practice—can be effective for treating depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, and substance use disorders, which research suggests can be prevalent among the LGBTQ+ community.