When: Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Presented by: Scott Hunter, PhD
This webinar will address the current understanding of homelessness and its impact on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) youth, ages 14-25 years old, in the U.S. With a focus on current research addressing the intersection of psychosocial, sociocultural, and socioeconomic factors that contribute to homelessness in youth, we will review how LGBTQ youth are a particularly vulnerable group for HIV risk, in comparison with their peers. Estimates suggest that 1.6-2 million youth live on the streets, in shelters, or in otherwise temporary accommodations and 25-55% identify as LGBTQ. Youth of color are disproportionally represented within the LGBTQ population experiencing homelessness and carry a heavier HIV burden.
The goal of this interactive webinar is to engage those working in integrated care settings, health centers, shelter programs, community-based clinics, and hospitals in their role to improve mental health and psychosocial outcomes for LGBTQ youth, using empirically informed interventions. Areas of emphasis will include the consideration of gender and sexual identity in adolescence as significant risks for homelessness given economic and cultural factors across urban and rural environments; how homelessness increases the risk for poorer cognitive and behavioral outcomes, which can contribute to increased HIV risk; how adolescence and the move towards emerging adulthood are impacted by the experience of homelessness; and factors that contribute to resilience for these LGBTQ youths, highlighting how these protective factors can be engaged and promoted.
Participants will gain insight into the best options for supporting LGBTQ youths experiencing homelessness, particularly through culturally appropriate programming that can better promote self-efficacy and improved psychological and developmental outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will be able to identify the multiple factors that contribute to increased risk of homelessness among LGBTQ youth in the U.S., the cultural considerations that are necessary for making sense of these risks, and how these risks are exacerbated for LGBTQ youths experiencing homelessness.
- Participants will gain a better understanding of the intersection between psychosocial and socioeconomic factors that contribute to risk and resilience in LGBTQ youths who are homeless.
- Participants will attain knowledge about current approaches to intervention and support for LGBTQ youth who are homeless, particularly with regard to culturally sensitive, empirically supported programs and interventions that can promote protective factors, self-efficacy, and improve psychological and developmental outcomes, reducing HIV risk.
Dr. Scott Hunter is Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, and Pediatrics, and Director of Neuropsychology at the University of Chicago. Dual-trained in clinical child and developmental psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr. Hunter received his postdoctoral training in pediatric neuropsychology and neurodevelopmental disorders, as a LEND fellow, at the University of Rochester. He has been on the faculty at the University of Chicago for 18 years. He is vice-chair of the UCM/BSD IRB and a faculty affiliate of the Center for Health and the Social Sciences (CHeSS). Dr. Hunter is nationally respected for his clinical and research program that focuses on neurocognitive and behavioral development in both typically maturing and neurodevelopmentally disabled populations. He collaborates with colleagues both within UCM, as well as across the US, on research addressing the development and implementation of empirically supported assessment and treatment approaches.
Continuing Education:
This webinar is being reviewed by the American Psychological Association’s Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (APA CEP) for 1.5 CEs. APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
If you wish to receive a continuing education credit from the APA, please contact David DeVito at ddevito@apa.org. Please title your message “CE Credit.”