In this brief video, Dr. Ilan Meyer of the Williams Institute discusses embarking on research around coping and resilience in LGBT communities.
SOME DEFINITIONS TO GET US STARTED
Minority stress: a model based on the premise that LGBT community members face unique stressors related to discrimination and stigma, causing adverse health outcomes both mentally and physically (Meyer & Frost, 2013).
Individual resilience: How people successfully adapt their functioning in light of stress and adversity, identified by positive health outcomes (Meyer, 2015).
Community resilience: also known as "minority coping," this concept refers to the ways in which communities can enhance often-marginalized individuals' well-being. This is vital to consider due to existing unequal underlying social structures that put the onus on individuals to lift themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps. (Meyer, 2015).
Our communities keep on surviving.
Lesbian, gay, bi, trans, non-binary, queer, intersex, asexual & associated (LGBTQIA+)* community members face higher rates than cisgender and heterosexual populations of trauma, microaggressions, and human rights violations (HRVs); this has been well and widely documented.
But why does a reminder of queer and trans community resilience, our survival, and the protective nature of our collectivism always come at the end of the articles and book chapters?
This website is about healing, resilience, and access to mental health care--not just about trauma and HRVs affecting LGBTQIA+ people!
In these pages you will find--along with summaries of research on how minority stress and minority coping impact community members--mental health care access resources for LGBTQIA+ individuals. Resources for training in queer- and trans-affirmative care are also included, along with recommendations for further reading.
*While I prefer the acronym LGBTQIA+, "LGBT" is sometimes used on these pages when referring to specific literature or media in which the phrases "LGBTQIA+" or "queer and trans" have not been utilized by the authors or speakers.
This site was created for academic purposes and as a platform to provide LGBTQIA+ affirmative information and resources for service providers/lived experience practitioners, peers, and community members.
Meyer, I. H. (2015). Resilience in the study of minority stress and health of sexual and gender minorities. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 2(3), 209–213. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000132
Meyer, I. H., & Frost, D. M. (2013). Minority stress and the health of sexual minorities. In C. J. Patterson & A. R. D'Augelli (Eds.), Handbook of psychology and sexual orientation (pp. 252–266). Oxford University Press.