NYC's LGBT Center Hosts "Families" to Help LGBT Youth

NEW YORK, NY - On the evening of Tuesday, January 10, New York's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center will host an event titled "Families: The Missing Link in Reducing Risk & Promoting Well-Being of LGBT Youth."

This event, convened by Green Chimneys and SCO, will be a community forum on a groundbreaking new approach to working with families of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth to solve the tragic problem of family rejection of these youth that results in homelessness, family disruption and serious related health and mental health problems

The forum will feature Dr. Caitlin Ryan of San Francisco State University. Dr. Ryan's Family Acceptance Project, whose research forms the basis of the new program, has conducted research linking family rejection with a variety of serious health risks including depression, suicide, illegal drug use and HIV infection. This forum aims to create a community dialogue about the shift in serving LGBTQ youth in isolation from their families and beginning to engage families as a potential resource and source of support.

Dr. Ryan's new work shows that serving LGBTQ youth in the context of their families and reframing our approach to promote family acceptance is crucial to preventing homelessness and fostering the well-being of LGBTQ youth and to ensuring their futures.

This forum will: discuss this exciting new culturally grounded approach; provide an opportunity to learn how Dr. Ryan is applying her research to help ethnically and religiously diverse families support their LGBT children and why it is a vital community-level approach; and provide information on the new Green Chimneys/SCO community initiative to increase family support for LGBTQ youth in New York City.

"The final report of the NYC Mayor's Commission on LGBTQ runaway/homeless youth included a recommendation to launch a pilot intervention project to address rejection of LGBTQ by their families," said Theresa Nolan, Director, NYC Division/LGBTQ Youth Programs for Green Chimneys.

"Based on the findings of the Family Acceptance Project, which clearly show the benefits of increasing family acceptance, Green Chimneys and SCO Family of Services developed our family therapy project and we are bringing Dr. Ryan to NYC for this forum to inform and engage our providers and advocates in a community response to the negative effects of family rejection," concluded Nolan.

DETAILS:

WHEN/WHERE:
January 10, 2012
6 PM - 8 PM
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center
208 W 13th St.

WHO:
Caitlin Ryan, PhD, ACSW is a clinical social worker who has worked on health and mental health issues for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people since the 1970s. She directs the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, a research, intervention, education, and policy initiative to help ethnically and religiously diverse families support their LGBT children.

Dr. Ryan and her team are developing a new evidence-based family support model to reduce health and mental health risks and promote well-being for LGBT children and adolescents. Her work has been recognized by many groups, including the National Association of Social Workers, which named her "Social Worker of the Year" in 1988 for her contributions during the AIDS epidemic, and the American Psychological Association, Division 44, which gave her the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 2009 for groundbreaking research on LGBT youth and families. She is collaborating with agencies, organizations, providers, and advocates to develop an international movement of family acceptance to promote wellness and healthy futures for LGBT children, youth, and young adults.

This event is being sponsored by The Palette Fund.