By Jennifer King, MSW
From September 2010 to May 2011 I was an Adelphi University Masters level Social Work Intern here at PFY. More recently, I am a research volunteer who is part of the consortium.
What is the consortium, you may ask? Well, the Consortium is part of a 5-year grant from the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. Comprised of PFY Program Leaders, adult staff and other supporting agencies, the Consortium works to identify and raise awareness of the needs, assets, supports and opportunities related to LGBT adolescent sexual health. We meet once per month and have established a weekly workgroup—which I’m part of—to conduct research. The workgroup includes Katie Stoll, a Crisis Center volunteer, and three Program Leaders Meredith Barranco, Chris Reid, and Shay Thomas.
The mission of the consortium is to promote optimal teen sexual health, especially as it relates to the LGBT population within Nassau County. We have a long term vision of creating sustainable community change that supports LGBT teenagers’ healthy development and removes the barriers that stand in their way.
How do we pursue our mission/vision? While staff, interns and other local experts have collected research and shared their experiences regarding the needs, assets, supports and opportunities for LGBT youth, it is essential that youth are a part our effort to accomplish community change. Without engaging young people in this type of action research, the many important aspects of being a sexually protected LGBT adolescent would be very difficult to acquire. Also, without community input the Consortium itself would not be able to sufficiently assess these issues. It is important that the type of community change that we strive for not only changes the community itself, but also empowers LGBT youth to stand up and be heard.
In the fall of 2010, the research workgroup conducted a survey that asked young people what were the most important problems they were facing. Forty-two people responded, and we found that slightly more than half of the participants believe that self-acceptance is the most important issue facing LGBT youth today.
From there, we ran three focus groups to explore the topic of self-acceptance further: what it means to LGBT youth, what resources exist, and how it relates to optimal sexual health. Two of the focus groups were run at PFY and the third at Uniondale High School’s GSA. The two focus groups at PFY showed that youth feel that you need to be self-accepting in order to make positive decisions regarding not only your sexual health but the way you view yourself and the way others perceive you. At Uniondale, we learned that there is a scarcity of LGBT programs and acceptance for LGBT students in schools. But, many of our participants acknowledged that, thanks in part to the media, people’s views on the LGBT community are changing for the better.
Come the fall we are looking to expand our research and bring our findings out in the community. We are actively looking for people, ages 13-18 to help us conduct our research. If you want more information or would like to get involved, please contact the workgroup at LGBT.needs@gmail.com or (516) 679-9000.
