While the NIH has identified sexual and gender minorities as well as racial and ethnic minorities as groups that are facing health disparities, what is often overlooked in research and clinical care are the people living at the nexus of those two communities. Health disparities are a particular type of difference in health in which disadvantaged social groups, such as people from lower social, economic status, racial, ethnic minorities, women, sexual minorities and other groups, have persistently experienced social disadvantage or discrimination and have systematically experienced worse health or greater health risks than more advantaged groups as a result of systems of oppression. An intersectionality framework can have a meaningful impact and potentially better outcomes in behavioral health care. This presentation will offer tools for behavioral health professionals.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Describe how systems of oppression such as racism and heterosexism create unique health disparities (e.g., addiction and behavioral health care inequities) encountered by LGBTQ+ People of Color. Individuals will also learn ways to increase their cultural humility in working with Queer People of Color.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Participants who fully attend this training or webinar will be eligible to receive 1 hour of continuing education (CE) certified by the Illinois Certification Board (ICB). CE certificates will be managed by the hosting agency and/or ICB.

PRESENTER

Dr. David G. Zelaya (he/him/él) is an Assistant Professor at Brown University School of Public Health within the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, he is a research fellow at Harvard Medical School within the Department of Psychiatry, and an affiliated scientist at Yale University with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. Dr. Zelaya received his Ph.D. from Georgia State University in counseling psychology, he was a psychology resident at Harvard Medical School's Cambridge Hospital, and he completed his fellowship within the Alcohol Research Center on HIV at Brown. His program of research focuses on examining health disparities, from an intersectionality and minority stress lens, among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and sexual and gender minority communities and links to HIV risk, mental health, and substance use. Dr. Zelaya is the PI of an NIH funded K23 career development grant aimed to develop a behavioral health intervention for Latinx queer individuals to decrease hazardous alcohol use by targeting intersectional forms of discrimination. Clinically, he is interested in providing culturally competent behavioral health services to historically underserved communities (e.g., Spanish-speaking Latinx people; sexual and gender diverse people). He has been the recipient of numerous social justice awards, his research has been published in the flagship journals of his field, and he serves on the editorial board for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity journal. At Brown, Dr. Zelaya teaches Introduction to Health Disparities.

The Great Lakes MHTTC is offering this training for individuals working in HHS Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. This training is being provided in response to a need identified by Region 5 stakeholders.