Cultural Humility Series, Part IV: Critical Issues in LGBTQIA Patient Care

LGBTQIA people are more likely to develop a substance use disorder (SUD), and transgender individuals are more likely to seek treatment than the general population (NIDA, 2017). These individuals often refuse treatment or leave against medical advice due to misgendering and discrimination. Effective SUD treatment not only requires sound clinical skills, but cultural knowledge and humility to address the needs of this population. This discussion provides information on gender and sexual minorities and issues they encounter in treatment, legal requirements of these facilities, and ethical policies that can be put in place to provide a safe, learning opportunity for these individuals to process and grow. This presentation will also provide instructions on critical factors to consider when creating safe, effective healing environments and relationships with LGBTQIA patients.

Learning Objectives

• Understand appropriate terminology for working with gender and sexual minorities, such as gender, sex, and sexual orientation as it pertains to LGBTQIA patient care.
• Recognize critical factors that affect and contribute to substance use among LGBTQIA populations.
• Identify current laws and factors of care that bring a risk or provide support to patients in treatment.
  -Learn best practices to improve policies promoting safe and healthy environments for LGBTQIA patient care.

Who Should Attend

Addiction professionals, employee assistance professionals, social workers, mental health counselors, professional counselors, psychologists, and other helping professionals that are interested in learning about addiction-related matters. Live closed captioning is available and the captioning capabilities are in compliance with the practices defined in Worldwide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

CE Credits

Click here for a complete list of organizations who approve NAADAC to provide continuing education hours.