Pride and Mental Health

Inequity harms mental health. While being LGBTQ+ is NOT a mental health condition or concern, LGBTQ+ individuals experience mental health struggles at higher rates than their straight and cisgender peers. Mental health challenges among the LGBTQ+ community are primarily due to individuals facing stigma, discrimination, and bias in many forms.

LGBTQ+ individuals can be incredibly resilient and thrive in the face of adversity with the help of supportive families, peers, and communities. But the ultimate protective factor in LGBTQ+ mental health is removing these adversities altogether, which we can work to achieve through creating informed and affirming environments.

For LGBTQ+ individuals in need of mental health care and resources - from Coming Out resources, Gender Identity resources, youth resources, and more - Mental Health America has created a LGBTQ+ Mental Health Resource Center. To access all that it has to offer, click here.

Resources

Justice Department Releases Webinar with Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to Improve Accessibility of School Buildings

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights have announced the release of a webinar setting out ways for school districts across the country to increase accessibility for students and teachers with disabilities in their school facilities. The webinar, “Accessible Public Schools,” was developed by the Justice Department in consultation with the Department of Education and responds to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation and report issued in 2020: School Districts Need Better Information to Help Improve Access for People with Disabilities. That report detailed significant accessibility barriers for students with disabilities across the country in the nation’s K-12 public school buildings, and recommended the federal government provide additional resources for school districts. 

To read their press release, click here.

To access the recorded webinar directly, click here.