Inclusive and Welcoming Mental Health Support
August 6, 2017
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation started publishing the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) more than ten years ago as a tool and resource to help healthcare facilities become more inclusive for LGBTQ+ patients and their families. Over the years, many hospitals and facilities have earned high HEI scores for their commitment to and demonstration of policies for non-discrimination and equal visitation raising the bar and also helping LGBTQ+ patients find facilities that provide equitable care. There is much more to be done not only to provide unbiased healthcare services for individuals in the LGBTQ+ communities, but to also understand their specific health needs and that includes mental health.
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Christian Jordal, PhD, director of the Master of Family Therapy program and assistant clinical professor and Anthony Pennant, LMFT, adjunct professor, are doing work within the College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP), Drexel Clinical Practices, including the Parkway Health and Wellness clinic, and Drexel University Individual, Couple, and Family Therapy Services clinic and in their own private practices that hopefully will move the needle on these statistics. Both Jordal and Pennant working at specialize in working with LGBT individuals, couples and families. Through their roles at CNHP, they are training the next generation of clinicians in a way that aligns with the historic mission of the department of Behavioral Health Counseling and Couple and Family Therapy, which includes cultural competency, and social justice service. Despite the statistically low number of people currently seeking support, CNHP students recognize and want to address the growing need for mental health services for a myriad of conditions. CNHP’s bachelor’s degree in behavioral health counseling prepares students to start their careers much faster. They’ve had advanced hands-on training and real-world learning experiences letting them walk out of the door as competent addictions treatment and mental health professionals. The master’s degree program in couple and family therapy (MFT) prepares students to build a solid foundation for fulfilling careers within highly diverse communities especially those that are systemically disparaged and unjustly treated.
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Pennant sees a variety of people for a range of reasons, specifically couples.
Issues around their relationship and what it means to be a couple, how to set up their families and what roles each will play find their way into discussion. It also could be a heterosexual couple navigating their partnership when one feels safe enough and begins to self-express as gender fluid. And if a partner comes out as transgender, Pennant will provide time and space to negotiate the changing relationship. “There’s such a richness in regards to what’s out there and sometimes it can be confusing,” Pennant suggested. “When people don’t fit in this bilateral world, it’s important to get people to have conversations as to understand that just because normal seems normal to you doesn’t mean that that normal is normal for everyone,” he furthered. He espoused that it is most vital to let people, especially LGBTQ+ individuals, know that they should not be ashamed to talk about what is important to them.
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POTT—a model created by CNHP clinical professor
Harry Aponte*—is part of the MFT mission. “It’s about recognizing that all of us, as clinicians, are wounded healers with our own issues, what Dr. Harry Aponte calls ‘signature themes,’” Jordal remarked. “Harry’s model is about understanding that woundedness and using that as a way to connect with your client. It’s a deepening the understanding of oneself to more deeply understand the client,” he continued. Jordal gave an illustration. “If I am, for example, a gay male working with a lesbian female, how are my experiences of marginalization and oppression something I can use to better understand those of my client.”
Jordal made a point in saying that both the undergraduate program in behavioral health counseling and the MFT program are cutting edge due to the fact that students have the skill set to go out and be on the front lines working with clients immediately. The MFT program takes the education further in that these students are being trained to be leaders in the field. “Most programs in my discipline do not train students around issues of social justice,” Jordal shared. “They don’t think about the Person of the Therapist so our students have a level of preparation that really serves them well and sets them apart.”
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*CNHP is hosting the International Conference onthe Person of the Therapist on April 26, 2018. Harry Aponte is one of the the renown speakers who will be presenting that day. Information and registration for the event is available on the CNHP website.