Miscellaneous

A collection of resources about rainbow mental health

Category: Blog (page 2 of 2)

Inside Out Videos

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

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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5 Things I Wish You Knew About Intersex People

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

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

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

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?

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.

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