Psychology- Therapeutic Group Proposal
In as much as societal diversities in backgrounds and beliefs have been lauded for value addition in workplaces, outright discrimination remains a norm for some groups. The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) society is such a group.
Prejudice, discrimination, and stigma have created a stressful and hostile environment for individuals in this group. This has caused a surge in mental health problems in these groups. Recently, societies have begun to embrace these groups. Several agencies have stepped up their efforts to offer care to these individuals. Such agencies include All Out, GATE, and GRIN, among others. This paper seeks to outline a proposal for a therapeutic group for the LGBTQ society.
Abstract
This proposal highlights the responsibilities of the gay, lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) as an agency targeted at ensuring healthcare equality among gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender. The proposal is for a therapeutic group within the GLMA agency that is aimed at carrying out the organizational mandate. The proposal explains the agency sponsorship, its purpose as far as health advocacy for the LGBTQ society is concerned, and the composition of the therapeutic group. The proposal also explains the recruitment process for these individuals, orientation, contract terms as well as the operational environment for these recruits.
Agency Sponsorship
The gay, lesbian medical association (GLMA) is an international agency founded in 1981. Its mission is to ensure healthcare equality for all LGBTQ individuals. This agency previously drew members from the LQBTQ healthcare professionals within the US. Its membership has since expanded to include LGBTQ members from across the globe as well as allied healthcare professionals with specialties in various cadres of healthcare professions.
GLMA provides a wide scope of care among the LGBTQ society with emphasis on mental health, HIV/AIDS, cancers of the cervix and breast, depression, hepatitis, tobacco, and substance abuse. This agency is targeted at ensuring healthcare equality among members of the LGBTQ society. This agency meets its goals of ensuring healthcare equality through policy formulation on healthcare advocacy, research promotion, patient education, and referrals.
GLMA has employed several techniques and theoretical frameworks to achieve its purpose. Patient education, promotion of research, public policy formulation, and referrals remain the backbone of their operationalization. GLMA utilizes its member healthcare professionals to achieve its objectives. These professionals have been deployed in their target areas, and their expertise is harnessed in the realization of these goals (“GLMA – GLMA Home Page”, 2022). Through its policy works framework, this group has, in collaboration with other groups, enabled the realization of various healthcare reforms that benefit the LGBTQ society. Their efforts have also been lauded in healthcare reforms to reduce LGBTQ discrimination, healthcare equity, and patient education. All these efforts have been made successful by its committed facilitators and cofacilitators. These facilitators are departmental heads who double up to be the vision carriers of the group. They coordinate the group’s activities and tailor them towards the realization of the organizational goals.
Purpose
The purpose of this therapeutic group is to provide mental healthcare to members of the LGBTQ society. This group will focus on patient education, referrals, and research. This therapeutic group will borrow the established GLMA frameworks for service delivery to its members. In this regard, the GLMA’s Provider Directory and a Top Ten fact sheet that contains all healthcare issues common within the LGBTQ group will be utilized to narrow down the issues affecting LGBTQ members. Various online tools, such as webinars using video conferencing, will be used in patient education on mental health. The group will also be involved in research processes involving mental health and its impacts on individuals from the LGBTQ community. A referral will be made, if necessary, to professional teams within the organization. All these efforts will be coordinated by group facilitators and co-facilitators drawn from the organization.
Composition
The target population for the therapeutic group is healthcare professionals. These professionals will be drawn from diverse cultures and will be representative of each group presented in the LGBTQ society. These professionals will double up as group facilitators for the specialty care areas that they provide. This will ensure quality care provisions since these facilitators can relate to the pertinent issues affecting members of these groups.
Over 5.6% of American adults identify as LGBT. These individuals are spread across states, with California bearing the greatest proportion of the population. Societal integration and acceptability have increased over the recent past. There are still existing gaps in the integration of these members into society. Stigma, discrimination, and prejudice against these individuals remain common. In the wake of the rising incidence of mental health issues across the globe, these individuals are not left behind. It is for this reason that these groups lag in mental health care. The gap in care for individuals of the LGBTQ society, coupled with the societal perception of these individuals that impedes their care-seeking behavior, is what has informed my selection of this target group.
Various factors will be considered when selecting this target group. Equality in healthcare provision is key. LGBTQ individuals are still faced with discrimination in healthcare provision. This discrimination is attributable to societal prejudice against these members (Gnan et al., 2019). Access to healthcare is also a challenge among these individuals. Inaccessibility to healthcare among these individuals is due to fear among these individuals which prevents them from assuming an active sick role and seeking healthcare (Gnan et al., 2019). Healthcare professionals are better poised to handle these issues due to their expertise in handling these problems. This explains their inclusion as a target group. GLMA is an agency that addresses most of these issues.
The members of this therapeutic group will be drawn from healthcare professionals allied to these groups. The group will be free to join for members of these groups. The ideal members of these groups are individuals from the LGBTQ society. This group will accept membership for allied members that support their efforts to ensure equality of healthcare for their members.
Recruitment
The recruitment process will be open and will require individuals to apply for their membership via the GLMA official website. The recruitment process will heavily rely on the existing members. Their role in this regard will be to mobilize other persons with similar orientations to join the group. Advertisements will also be made bearing the benefits realized by this agency over the past in an attempt to lure allied members and volunteers who are willing to participate in the group activities. A toll-free hotline number will also be available and used to answer any questions raised by interested persons. In the mobilization process, leaflets will be made available to document the achievements of this group over the years in LGBTQ advocacy.
Outreach programs will also be conducted in various localities where LGBTQ advocacy still lags. The purpose of these outreach programs will be to enhance the acceptability of these members to society as well as to reduce discrimination and stigma raised against members of the LGBTQ society (Fish, 2020). The outreach programs will be conducted in various institutions of higher learning, sporting and entertainment arenas, and public spaces.
Orientation
Upon recruitment, all members will be orientated on the organizational objectives and goals. The orientation will follow boardroom discussions, peer lectures, and workshops. The orientation program will take two weeks. The discussions will be centered on the organizational mission, values, and purpose for the LGBTQ members. In these discussions, the significance of maintaining ethical values of respect for human beings and equality among healthcare providers will be highlighted. Additionally, the recruits will go through workshop training to enable them to understand the various functionalities of the organization. Such functionalities will include patient education and research, among others. The new members will also get to attend lecture sessions by peers on the significance of the group as well as their efforts towards advocating for equality of healthcare among the LGBTQ society.
Contracts
All recruits will be handed a written contract upon joining the organization. Written contracts provide better certainty and are more abiding than oral contracts. There will be no definite number of sessions for each individual. Participation in the organizational activities will be on a volunteer basis, requiring members to make themselves available when called upon. In this regard, all organizational activities will be communicated in a timely manner to enable participants to reschedule and make time for the organizational activities. The role of each recruit will be defined by the group facilitators. The facilitators will be the vision carriers of the group and will be drawn from the older, experienced members. The decision-making process for each task conducted by the group will be democratic, drawing input from all members of the group. Provisional rules will be designed during working hours. These rules will guide individual interactions and terms of service. Members will be required to remain involved in the group activities for as long as they run. Caution will, however, be taken by the group not to overstretch their work duration. The group places responsibilities on its members. There will be no framework for monitoring individual activities. Members will also be allowed to withdraw their membership at their will via a written note.
Environment
The environment for this organizational activity varies with specific activities. Patient educational programs will majorly be done online via web resources such as video conferencing. All outdoor activities will be done in areas accessible to persons with disabilities. Financial arrangements will be made with transparency and all financial requirements provided by donors. The budget will be displayed publicly upon design, and donors rallied to foot the expenses. The expenses will also be displayed to the donors and any other interested persons to promote accountability of the available resources. This organization will work within the legal frameworks.
The LGBTQ society still faces challenges associated with their overall acceptability within the society. Mental health is increasingly becoming an issue among members of these groups. Addressing these issues is key to the enhancement of their overall well-being. This is the main objective of GLMA. Their purpose is to ensure equality for all members of the LGBTQ society. This group utilizes allied healthcare professionals to execute its mandate. Their successes are evident in the various policy works on healthcare reforms and in-patient education.
References
Fish, J. (2020). Future Directions in Understanding and Addressing Mental Health among LGBTQ Youth. Journal Of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 49(6), 943-956. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2020.1815207
GLMA – About GLMA. Glma.org. (2022). Retrieved 28 March 2022, from https://www.glma.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=532.
Gnan, G., Rahman, Q., Ussher, G., Baker, D., West, E., & Rimes, K. (2019). General and LGBTQ-specific factors associated with mental health and suicide risk among LGBTQ students. Journal Of Youth Studies, 22(10), 1393-1408. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2019.1581361
Meyer, I. (2017). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674-697. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674
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Question 
The idea behind this assignment is to develop a therapeutic group and create a proposal to present to my professor. This group could include one of the following populations:
Psychology- Therapeutic Group Proposal
seniors post-pandemic and LGBTQ+ middle school students (support group time). This needs to be done in a direct practice therapeutic group setting.