The Power of Affirming Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth
by Amy Harclerode, HMI Chief Executive Officer

As a 44-year-old genderqueer lesbian, I have watched the increase in violence and death in our community, specifically among Black trans women. I’ve also witnessed efforts to decrease access to gender-affirming care, changes in school curriculums to remove LGBTQIA+ specific content, and so much more, all with a horrified and deep disbelief that within my lifetime, I’ve seen almost as many rights granted as taken away. As the fortunate leader of Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI), an organization celebrating 45 years of cultivating a space for LGBTQIA+ youth, more than 90% of whom are people of color, I have also seen the resilience and compassion that can exist despite all of that.

I can speak firsthand to the positive impact that having a staff as diverse as the members we serve has on mental health outcomes of the entire community. Our program evaluation shows that one of the most important drivers of effective mental health care for LGBTQIA+ youth is the presence of a diverse and capable workforce with shared life experience with the young people they serve at all of the many intersections of race, socioeconomic capacity, gender, and sexual orientation we occupy.

The benefits of having access to caring queer and trans adults as mentors and teachers, and positive narratives about our experiences is not to be taken for granted and the need for these connections is urgent, as the mental health crisis is one of paramount importance. LGBTQIA+ young people are at significantly increased risk of suicide, in fact, LGBTQIA+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020).

At HMI, we know how to cultivate affirming community space with caring queer and trans adults, and how to evolve traditional mental health practice to significantly reduce depression and anxiety in our young people. This insight could arm an entire industry with the knowledge to reset the standard of mental health care to be more inclusive of the experience of queer and trans folks, especially queer and trans folks of color.

We are whole people working with whole people, all bringing to the table a beautiful and complex set of experiences. We must exist in the dichotomy of mental health as the biggest asset in navigating challenges as well as our most fragile nerve – exposed to a world seemingly intent on unseeing us as queer people. We must bravely step away from trying to be all things to all donors; even if at a service level, that is exactly what we are to the community. I can clearly imagine a world where more communities like ours, in geographies less likely to be as resourced and social justice oriented as New York City, have the ability to cultivate these communities with the flexibility and innovation that LGBTQIA+ organizations need. This is essential if we are to hold space for the youth we serve to be the change we so desperately need them to be.