Coming Out

Please no plagiarism and make sure you are able to access all resources on your own before you bid. Main references come from Murray, C., Pope, A., & Willis, B. (2017) and/or American Psychological Association (2014). You need to have scholarly support for any claim of fact or recommendation regarding treatment. APA format also requires headings. Use the instructions each week to guide your heading titles and organize the content of your initial post under the appropriate headings. Remember to use scholarly research from peer-reviewed articles that is current. Please follow the instructions to get full credit for the discussion. I need this completed by 04/08/20 at 8pm.

Discussion – Week 7

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Coming Out

Individuals who are coming out, or revealing their sexual and/or gender orientation to others, often feel very alone and isolated in their experiences, especially if they are not connected to a support network that is understanding and knowledgeable about the topic. This also can be true for family members and close friends of individuals who are coming out, as they often face their own personal reactions to the coming out process as well.

In addition to the support they may receive through counseling during the coming out process, clients may benefit from connecting to local community resources designed to provide informational, emotional, and social support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and their families. As counselors, it is important to be aware of resources that are available within your community so that you can help your clients connect with these resources when they need additional support.

To prepare for this Discussion, consider some of the challenges LGBTIQ clients may face as they come out in their sexual orientation to others. Then locate resources in your community or state for LGBTIQ clients who are in the process of coming out.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 an explanation of two challenges LGBTIQ clients may face as they come out in their sexual orientation to others. Then describe the resource you identified that serves this population and provide a link to its’ website. Finally, describe the services this resource provides and explain how they would be helpful to clients and their families.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

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Required Resources

Readings

· Course Text: Murray, C., Pope, A., & Willis, B. (2017). Sexuality counseling: Theory, research, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

· Chapter 7, “Gender Identity and Affectional Sexual Orientation”

· Article: ALGBTIC (2018). ALGBTIC Competencies for counseling LGBQQIA Clients and ALGBTIC Competencies for counseling Transgender Clients. Retrieved from http://www.algbtic.org/competencies.html

· Article: Baiocco, R., Fontanesi, L., Santamaria, F., Ioverno, S., Marasco, B., Baumgartner, E., Willoughby, B. L., and Laghi, F. (2015). Negative Parental Responses to Coming Out and Family Functioning in a Sample of Lesbian and Gay Young Adults. Journal of Child and family studies 24(5), 1490–1500. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

· Article: Collazo, A., Austin, A., &Craig, S.L. (2013). Facilitating Transition Among Transgender Clients: Components of Effective Clinical Practice. Clinical Social Work Journal, 41: 228-237.

· Article: D’amico, E., Julien, D., Tremblay, N., & Chartrand, E. (2015). Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths coming out to their parents: Parental reactions and youths’ outcomes. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 11(5), 411–437. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

· Article: Ehrensaft, D. (2014). Found in Transition: Our Littlest Transgender People. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, (50)4: 571-592.

· Article: Goldfried, M. R., & Goldfried, A. P. (2001). The importance of parental support in the lives of gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57(5), 681–693. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database.

· Article: Russell, S. T., & Fish, J. N. (2016). Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Youth. ANNUAL REVIEW OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, VOL 12, 12, 465–487. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

· Article: Sherer I. Social Transition: Supporting Our Youngest Transgender Children. Pediatrics. 2016;137(3):e20154358

· Article: Snapp, S. D., Watson, R. J., Russell, S. T., Diaz, R. M., & Ryan, C. (2015). Social Support Networks for LGBT Young Adults: Low-Cost Strategies for Positive Adjustment. Family Relations, (3), 420. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Media

· Video: Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Coming out stories. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 43 minutes.

Accessible player –Downloads– Download Video w/CC Download Audio Download Transcript
Shannon D. Snapp University of Arizona

Ryan J. Watson University of British Columbia∗

Stephen T. Russell University of Arizona∗∗

Rafael M. Diaz San Francisco State University∗∗∗

Caitlin Ryan Marian Wright Edelman Institute∗∗∗∗

Social Support Networks for LGBT Young Adults:

Low Cost Strategies for Positive Adjustment

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and young adults are known to have com- promised physical and mental health, and family rejection has been found to be an important risk factor. Yet few studies have examined the posi- tive role that support from parents, friends, and the community have for LGBT young adults. In a cross-sectional study of 245 LGBT non-Latino White and Latino young adults (ages 21–25) in

Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Frances McClelland Institute of Children, Youth, and Families, Uni- versity of Arizona, PO Box 210078, 650 N. Park Ave, Tuc- son, AZ 85721 (sdsnapp@email.arizona.edu). ∗School of Nursing, Stigma and Resilience Among Vulner- able Youth Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancou- ver, Canada, T222-2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 2B5, CANADA ∗∗Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Univer- sity of Arizona, PO Box 210078, 650 N. Park Ave, Tucson, AZ 85721. ∗∗∗San Francisco State University, 3004 16th Street, Suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94103. ∗∗∗∗Marian Wright Edelman Institute, San Francisco State University, 3004 16th Street, Suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94103. Key Words: family acceptance, gender identity, homosexual- ity, LGBT adolescent, protective factors, sexual orientation, social support.

the United States, sexuality-related social sup- port was examined in association with mea- sures of adjustment in young adulthood. Fam- ily, friend, and community support were strong predictors of positive outcomes, including life situation, self-esteem, and LGBT esteem. How- ever, family acceptance had the strongest overall influence when other forms of support were con- sidered. Implications for the unique and concur- rent forms of social support for LGBT youth and young adult adjustment are discussed.

Prior studies have clearly established physical and mental health disparities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and adults (physical health may include but is not limited to weight, chronic health concerns, sex- ual risk taking, and substance use; mental health may include but is not limited to psychologi- cal concerns, diagnosed disorders, and suicidal- ity; Conron, Mimiaga, & Landers, 2010; Insti- tute of Medicine, 2011; Ryan, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2009; Ryan, Russell, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2010). However, less is known about positive development for LGBT young people. Several existing studies have documented a pos- itive association between family acceptance and well-being for LGBT youth (Doty & Brian,

420 Family Relations 64 (July 2015): 420–430 DOI:10.1111/fare.12124

Social Support Networks for LGBT Young Adults 421

2010; Elizur & Ziv, 2001; Shilo & Savaya, 2011); fewer have examined the implications of family acceptance beyond the teenage years (Rosario, Schrimshaw, & Hunter, 2009) or in conjunction with other salient forms of social support. As youth move from adolescence into young adulthood they are likely to encounter additional supports from friends, peers, and their community which may enable their positive adjustment. This support may operate as general support or it may be sexuality-related social sup- port, a term used to describe social support that is specific to young people’s sexuality-related stress and life experiences (Doty, Willoughby, Lindahl, & Malik, 2010). In the present study we aimed to understand how family acceptance, along with additional forms of sexuality-related social support, may predict healthy adjustment in young adulthood.

We approached this research from the foun- dations of the minority stress model (Meyer, 2003). This framework suggests that the estab- lished negative relation between minority stressors (e.g., harassment due to sexual ori- entation, internalized homophobia) and mental health can in part be buffered by coping mecha- nisms. For example, interpersonal relationships (e.g., supportive parents), policies (e.g., anti-discrimination school codes), and organi- zations (e.g., LGBT clubs, gay–straight alliance networks) might provide protections against the deleterious effects of minority-specific pres- sures. Protective factors may attenuate the effect of stressors on the negative health outcomes for LGBT persons. In this study we conceptualized support from family, friends, and the commu- nity as potential coping mechanisms, and thus protective factors, for LGBT young adults.

Family Acceptance and LGBT Youth and Young Adults

When LGBT teenagers disclose their sexual and/or gender identities (a process known as “coming out”) they may face a range of responses that either affirm or reject their iden- tities (D’Augelli, Grossman, & Starks, 2005). LGBT young adults who reported high levels…