Boston, August 14, 2018―Fenway Health announces a monthly Spanish-language support group for Latino/a (Latinx) members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community negotiating the unique issues and challenges related to being both Latinx and LGBT.
“Many LGBT people in the Latinx community struggle to reconcile their sexual orientation or gender identity with entrenched anti-LGBT cultural and religious stigma,” said Gerado Moreno-Serrano, MS, LMHC, a bilingual psychotherapist at Fenway Health who facilitates the group. “Additionally, they must contend with racism and homophobia within our broader society, higher rates of HIV, immigration and asylum issues, and other issues of health and safety. Our group aims to give LGBT Latinx people the tools and support they need to live healthy, authentic, fulfilling lives.”
According to the Williams Institute, an estimated 1.4 million or 4.3 percent of Latinx adults in the U.S. consider themselves part of the LGBT community. Data analysis by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs shows that LGBT Latinx people are more likely than people of other racial and ethnic minority backgrounds to experience hate violence. The community is also disproportionately affected by HIV. According to the CDC, gay and bisexual men accounted for 85 percent (7,271) of the HIV diagnoses among Hispanic/Latino men in 2015. Hispanic and Latina transgender women are also significantly affected by HIV.
The LGBTQ Process Group in Spanish for the Latinx community meets weekly at Fenway Health’s Ansin Building, 1340 Boylston St, 7th floor, from 12 to 1:15 p.m. every Wednesday. The group is an open and ongoing culturally sensitive intervention for the Spanish-speaking LGBT community to explore how race/ethnicity, gender/sexual orientation, religion/spirituality, culture/traditions, family/society, and developmental stage have an impact on Latinx LGBT people. The group is open to Fenway Health patients and others (age 21 and up) regardless of where they get medical services and referrals are accepted on an ongoing basis.
The groups is one of a variety of short-term, skill-based psychotherapy groups, longer-term psychotherapy groups, and support groups offered at the health center, including those addressing mental health conditions, coming out issues, unhealthy sexual behavior, recovery from violence, LGBT aging issues, and gender transition/affirmation.
For more information about Fenway Health’s Latinx LGBT support group contact Gerardo Moreno-Serrano, MS, LMHC (857.313.6512).
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