Attending to LGBTQIA+ Communities: Response to Colorado Springs

In the month of November during a time of gratitude with loved ones, a tragic occurrence disrupted the LGBTQ community in Central Colorado. Currently, it appears many news platforms search for blame and motive of the perpetrator. There are even opportunities to see the good in our society by highlighting those that came to rescue. Other platforms unfortunately seek the opportunity to have discussions for political division. But small in number, are there conversations that explore how LGBTQIA+ communities & providers are held after horrific events such as this one. As a result, this piece will serve as a brief list of responses for those in the counseling field who support current survivors of violence in the LGBTQIA+ community.

According to USA today, there have been 526 mass shootings since 2006 (USA Today, 2022). & yet, it is unclear how many of these shootings have been directed to queer communities and the possibility of those being underreported.  Needless to say, we have an issue in US society. Until macro change is initiated in gun control and LGBTQIA+ protection, it is important clinicians, community organizers, researchers, and counselor educators remain creative & curious how to hold space for LGBTQIA+ communities. Here are some beginning steps to start this holding process below:

Clinicians

• Approach:
  • Validation & Acknowledgement of grief. There is more emerging research on the benefit of grief work to navigate multilayers of loss LGBTQIA+ communities experience.
  • Encourage tenderness as they may re-experience trauma. This might involve practicing self-compassion in addition to self-soothing and mindfulness techniques following session.
  • Cultivating a tribe. Exploring with clients current and new healthy relationships that are supportive and avoid making them feel like a burden. It also supports maintaining community vs. getting stuck in isolation.
  • Be mindful of sleep hygiene. Exploring methods to maintain good sleep can support an individuals’ ability manage fatigue and decrease vigilance.
  • Staying Informed. Explore with clients to find a balance of being informed while not being consumed by the news.  
• Education: Click the link for a guide of literature clinicians working with LGBTQIA+ communities would want to have.
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Community Organizers

• Support Groups & Community Events: Organizations such as BEAM (Black Emotional And Mental Health Collective) do a wonderful job at providing peer support, training resources, and events that facilitate meditation and regulation practices. Ongoing funding for initiatives like this across the US for LGBTQIA+ folks can be invaluable.
• Support Groups for LGBTQ mental health providers: Wellness in providers can lead to effective care and client satisfaction for LGBTQIA+ communities. Although it shouldn’t be assumed all clinicians have great health coverage, there is a benefit of having resources for free collective healing.
  
  

Researchers

• Researcher & Community Matching: Literature states research became a site of collecting voices, experiences, and knowledge that were then either appropriated or showcased (Smith, 2012). Because of this, there is value in ensuring primary investigators of research identify with the community being explored & have awareness of their own positioning.
•  Decolonize Research Methodologies: According to Tuck & Yang (2014), decolonization is not a metaphor. But instead, it is the act of reparation and reconnecting to land. In this case, land is synonymous with lived experiences. As a result, research methods would take steps to adjust traditional methodologies and analyses that honor the authentic voices and needs of LGBTQIA+ communities “as is” without filtering through research teams.
  
  

Counselor Educators

• Healing Spaces for Students: Allow collective healing in class instruction or affinity circles so students directly and indirectly affected by the events can explore its impact.  
• Healing Spaces for Educators: Based on what is known in the literature about vicarious trauma, space for educators is just as impactful as it can be for students. Counseling ethics on self-care would also support the modeling educators can provide for students in training.
• Social Justice Curriculum:  By incorporating a social justice framework, students can be challenged to practice effective assessment skills for LGBTQIA+ needs versus being guided on individual biases and assumptions.
• Program Effectiveness: Consistently assess program responsiveness & implementation of LGBTQIA+ experiences in term evaluations for students

 
In closing, below you will find additional resources those in the counseling field can use in support of LGBTQIA+ survivors of violence.

Additional Resources

• The Trevor Project Crisis Helpline | 24 Hour Telephone (866) 488-7386
• Trans Lifeline | (877) 565-8860
• Blackline | (800) 604-5841 | 24/7 Text of Call Hotline: a space for peer support, counseling witnessing and affirming the lived experiences to folxs who are most impacted by systematic oppression with an LGBTQ+ Black Femme Lens. 
• Apply for Mental Health Funding in 2023 | Applicants can receive financial assistance to mental health services

 
By Dr. Marcus D. Smith, PhD, LCPC
 
References

National Queer & Trans Therapist of Color Network. (2022, November 29). Radical Syllabus. NQTTCN. https://nqttcn.com/en/2021/05/03/radical-syllabus/

Smith. (2012). Decolonizing Methodologies : Research and Indigenous Peoples (2nd ed.). Zed Books.
Tuck, E. and K.W. Yang. (2014b). ‘R-Words: Refusing Research’ in D. Paris and M. T. Winn (Eds.) Humanizing Research: Decolonizing Qualitative Inquiry with youth and Communities. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage Publications.

USA Today (2022, August 18). Mass killing database: Revealing trends, details and anguish of every US event since 2006. https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2022/08/18/mass-killings-database-us-events-since-2006/9705311002/

Wood, A., & Conley, A. (2014). Loss of religious or spiritual identities among the LGBT
population. Counseling and Values, 59(1), 95-111. doi:10.1002/j.2161007X.2014.00044.x 

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