Miscellaneous

A collection of resources about rainbow mental health

Author: Joey

Inside Out Videos

November 9, 2015 / / 0 Comments

insideout3

Rainbow Youth have collaborated with Curative, Core Education, and the University of Auckland to produce a new free resource for teachers, youth workers, social workers, nurses, guidance counsellors – really for anyone working in schools. This is a learning resource that includes videos of real people talking about real life, fact sheets, glossaries, and pedagogy guides about how these resources connect to the curriculum for years 9-13.

If you work in schools please check it out, and encourage other people too. It’s completely free of charge and covers important topics like how to create safer environments for young people of diverse sexes, genders, and sexualities. You’ll hear about what these words mean to different people, about the relationship between respect and responsibility, and how we can challenge norms as part of maintaining inclusive spaces.

Check it out: http://insideout.ry.org.nz/

New Guidelines from APA about Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People

November 4, 2015 / / 0 Comments

APA logoI was pleasantly surprised to see that the latest Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People (August 2015) from the American Psychological Association begins with an acknowledgement that “gender is a non-binary construct that allows for a range of gender identities and that a person’s gender identity may not align with the sex assigned at birth.”    That is the first guideline, on page 4.

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World Medical Association Statement about Transgender People 2015

October 27, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Read here: World Medical Association statement

This statement emphasises that “everyone has the right to determine one’s own gender and recognises the diversity of possibilities in this respect. The WMA calls for physicians to uphold each individual’s right to self-identification with regards to gender.”

It also reinforces the need for access to health services: “Evidence suggests that treatment with sex hormones or surgical interventions can be beneficial to people with pronounced and long-lasting gender dysphoria who seek gender transition. However, transgender people are often denied access to appropriate and affordable transgender healthcare (e.g. sex hormones, surgeries, mental healthcare) due to, among other things, the policies of health insurers and national social security benefit schemes, or to a lack of relevant clinical and cultural competence among healthcare providers. Transgender persons may be more likely to forego healthcare due to fear of discrimination.”

The WMA “urges that every effort be made to make individualised, multi-professional, interdisciplinary and affordable transgender healthcare (including speech therapy, hormonal treatment, surgical interventions and mental healthcare) available to all people who experience gender incongruence in order to reduce or to prevent pronounced gender dysphoria.”

5 Things I Wish You Knew About Intersex People

October 9, 2015 / / 0 Comments
Author Georgiann Davis

Author Georgiann Davis

Click: 5 Things I Wish You Knew About Intersex People

Georgiann Davis recently authored a book called “Contesting Intersex: the Dubious Diagnosis” and it seems to be well received by intersex people and their friends, families, and advocates. The link above highlights some of the key things Davis wants people to know.

What It’s Like To Be Intersex video

October 9, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Check out this excellent three minute video about what it’s like to be intersex.

Created by Intersex Youth Advocacy Group: http://www.interactyouth.org

21 Ways to be an Ally to Your Trans Youth Clients

August 13, 2015 / / 0 Comments

21 ways pic for blog21 Ways to be an Ally to Your Trans Youth Clients

This is a handy one page tip sheet with gems such as: “Take youth and their gender identity and expression seriously. You may be the first – or only – person in their life to do so.”

I find this helpful as a 101 resource, to reassure people who have less experience working with transgender and gender diverse people that there are some simple tips to follow. It’s not complex and sometimes can be clunky, but it’s simple and easily digested for the nervous person wanting to be a better ally.

A common question I get from people is about people changing names, and one of the handy tips is “Don’t ask us what our former names were.” I also appreciate the reminder that some people want to “pass” and others are not interested in passing so don’t assume we’re succeeding if we do and failing if we don’t.

You can find 21 Ways and more resources at the NZ Human Rights Commission under “More Info” or using the search tool on: www.hrc.co.nz.

Practice Wisdom Resource: MindOut Australia 2014

August 13, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Working therapeutically with LGBTI clients: a practice wisdom resource

Tpractice wisdom pic on deskhis is one of my favourites. I’ve found it to be a really helpful tool in my workshops about how to create safe spaces for LGBTI-etc people, especially in the context of support work and engaging with someone holistically. In fact I think it’s useful for practitioners in mental health who want to create safe spaces for everyone, not just people from rainbow communities.

It encourages people to look at their own biases and backgrounds, and gives information about minority stress, discrimination, and the extreme diversity of experiences that we have as rainbow community members and service users.

I like that it emphasizes things like “any client could be an LGBTI client” and “the typical LGBTI client does not exist” (page 9).

There are some fantastic quotes from counsellors and practitioners such as New Zealand’s own intersex activist Mani Mitchell.

Mani: “This kind of work requires an exquisite attention to detail, a willingness to learn and make mistakes, to be real, to ask lots of questions and check understandings.”

The pdf of this resource is available here. Or check out http://lgbtihealth.org.au/mindout/ for more information and resources.

Got a great new resource or piece of research?

March 3, 2015 / / 0 Comments

resources mix picSend us your resources about things related to mental health and rainbow communities or populations. We know the language we use is different in different contexts – so sometimes we say “rainbow,” sometimes “diversity of sex, gender, and sexuality,” or “marginalised genders and sexualities,” or “transgender, takataapui, and intersex,” or “LGBTI,” or “queer and trans,” or “MVPFAFF,” and so on. We’re interested in any resource that connects mental health to these experiences, identities, communities, populations, individuals and concepts.

Let’s not re-create the wheel every time we have to make a new resource. You can check our blog to see if anyone else has written something helpful. We would also love your help collecting useful resources and research.

Please consider getting involved – send us your favourite resources, information sheets, and educational materials. You’re also welcome to become a contributing author. We write brief comments to contextualise the resources we are linking people to, and we would welcome your contributions. Flick us an email:  miscelleanousmentalhealth@gmail.com.

Kia ora koutou and Welcome to Miscellaneous

March 3, 2015 / / 0 Comments / Sticky

Welcome to Miscellaneous, a blog about mental health, social justice, and sharing resources related to the health and wellbeing of people with diverse sexes, genders, and sexualities.

Why does this blog exist?

We need a range of coordinated initiatives to challenge and address homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia, biphobia, and the related intersections with racism, sexism, poverty, and other structural inequalities. We want to address and remove health disparities experienced by rainbow populations, and to create environments where diversity and identity is valued and celebrated.* This blog is one small initiative that we have undertaken to try and share knowledge and connect people across health sectors. For more info visit our About page, and to learn more about who we are check out our Bios.

*Compared to other New Zealanders, rainbow populations are at significantly higher risk of distress, mental health problems and suicide due to experiences of social exclusion and discrimination. Discrimination and exclusion is complex , and occurs differently across a range of settings and population groups.

What can we offer you?

We are hoping Miscellaneous will connect people working in health sectors around NZ. We will be sending out updates every time we find a great new resource or piece of research, and we would welcome suggestions from you about resources that you’ve found helpful when working with people of diverse sexes, genders, and sexualities. You can also sign up to receive email updates so you’ll get info as soon as it comes out (we won’t spam you, promise).

We will be collecting these resources and storing links to them here, so that you can come back and search for things that you need, as you need them. For example, if you are supporting someone who is transitioning (changing gender) then you could search for “transitioning” among the tags on our posts and find all the resources that we’ve got related to that topic.

Who is this blog for?

Anyone who is working in health sectors (general health, mental health, addictions, disability, emergency services, clinical teams and so on) who wants to learn more or share their learning about rainbow populations and how we can challenge homophobia/transphobia/etc.

We also invite anyone doing community work, or supporting friends or family members, to check out our resources and consider how you can effect change in your area of influence, whether that be in a professional or personal capacity.

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