Trans Identities + Mental Health Resources Round-Up

Women's, Gender, & Equity Center March 11, 2016 at 3:52 PM

A resource round-up provided by Women’s Center staff members

In case you missed yesterday’s roundtable on Trans Identities + Mental Health (or if you were there and want to keep the conversation going), we thought it might be useful to summarize some of the discussion in addition to linking to some useful reading materials and resources.

As with all of our roundtables, we reached out to our panel members and asked them to keep some of guiding questions in mind as they shared their stories and examples. Some of these questions included:

Where do the intersections of trans identities and mental health show up for you personally? In the classroom? In your activism? In your peer networks?
How does stigma against mental illness impact trans people’s experiences seeking support or other mental health services?
How are the needs of trans people different and/or similar to those of LGB+ people with regard to mental health?
Why is the intersection of trans identities and mental health a social justice and/or feminist issue?

One student panelist, Dan, described his experience with gender identity and mental health using an extended metaphor of a car sitting on top of a messy desk in order to illustrate the difficulty of adequately addressing various ongoing mental health issues that are distinct from — yet often complicated by — issues related to gender identity.

With only an hour to spend together, there’s still so much more we could have delved into and learned together as a community. Let the work continue! Below are a few articles and resources to help continue doing self-reflection and growth. As a reminder, this is not an exhaustive list so let us know if you recommend other great resources!

Follow on Twitter!

@janetmock
@juliaSerana
@reinagossett
@deanspade
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project @SRLP

Articles, Blogs and Books on the subject:

On-campus resources:

Spectrum – this Women’s Center and Mosaic Center program is for UMBC community members who identify as trans, genderqueer, gender fluid, outside of the gender binary, and/or those who are questioning their gender identity. The program meets weekly in the Women’s Center on Thursdays at 3pm.

UMBC Counseling Center

Trans Support Group run through the Counseling Center
Online Kognito Training for students AND faculty on staff on how to create a supportive campus for LGBTQ students

Critical Social Justice (October 2016)