Fenway Health Announces Support Group For Latinx LGBT people

Latinx

Monthly Spanish-language group offers confidential space to addresses Latinx issues, challenges of dual identity

BOSTON―Fenway Health recently announced 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 Gerardo 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 group 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).

Since 1971, Fenway Health has been working to make life healthier for the people in our neighborhood, the LGBT community, people living with HIV/AIDS and the broader population. The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health is an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education and policy development focusing on national and international health issues. Fenway’s Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center cares for youth and young adults ages 12 to 29 who may not feel comfortable going anywhere else, including those who are LGBT or just figuring things out; homeless; struggling with substance use, or living with HIV/AIDS. In 2013, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts joined the Fenway Health family, allowing both organizations to improve delivery of care and services across the state and beyond.

[From a News Release]

 

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