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LGBTQ Youth and their Families: Presentation for Mental Health Providers Caitlin Ryan, PhD

Caitlin Ryan, PhD, will discuss her research on LGBT youth and families and the new family-related approach to prevention and care that Dr. Ryan and her team are currently developing with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As director of the Family Acceptance Project at SF State University, Dr. Ryan has studied how family acceptance and rejection affect the health and mental health of LGBT youth. Her research has identified more than 100 behaviors that families use to express acceptance and rejection of their LGBT children and has linked each of these behaviors to specific health and mental health outcomes in adulthood, including depression, risk for HIV, suicide, substance abuse, self-esteem and life satisfaction. She will discuss her research findings, resources they are developing to help families with LGBT children and how practitioners can use their research to help families that are struggling with their child’s LGBT identity. The new interventions her team is developing and evaluating will be available for dissemination by 2012.

Begins Thursday Aug 13, 2009
Ends Thursday Aug 13, 2009

Location: Westminster College Gore Buisness Auditorium