"Feeling Like You Matter:" LGBTQ + Young Adult Perspectives on Affirmative Mental Healthcare.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of LGBTQ + young people in mental healthcare and to understand their perspectives on what affirmative mental healthcare practice should look like. Between June and September of 2023, interviews were conducted with LGBTQ + young people ages 18-26 years in Los Angeles and Seattle. Interviews lasted 30 to 60 min and were transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis (N = 28). Four themes were developed from analysis of the interviews: (1) disconnection from community and self as an impetus for seeking formal mental healthcare; (2) marginalization during mental health service encounters; (3) the therapeutic power of belonging and mattering in the mental healthcare system; and (4) mutual human connection as the foundation for affirming menta

SUBMITTER: Mondave M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11685268 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature