Name: Stella

Social Justice Group: 2018-2019, LGBTQIA Youth & Coming Out

Date of Fieldwork: January 30, 2019

Name of Organization:

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Samantha Busa

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We talked with Samantha Busa, a psychologist who specializes in LGBTQ+ children. We talked about the mental health issues surrounding LGBTQ+ youth and she actually sent us a ton of statistics regarding the number of LGBTQ+ youth suffering with mental health issues.

What I learned:

I learned that trans kids that are given enough support, do just as well as cis kids. Specializing in working in LGBTQ+ is extremely important because of the amount of LGBTQ+ youth who have mental illnesses. Samantha talked a lot about how in the field of psychology there are predominately white straight people, and her plan is to use her privilege as a white straight cisgender woman to help others who don’t have those kinds of privileges.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

Many people know that many LGBTQ+ youths suffer from mental illnesses but not everyone knows how many. Because of the homophobia and transphobia that’s so prominent in either their daily lives or in the media many LGBTQ+ youths have had to battle with depression and anxiety and even more. It’s important to try and help those youths feel more comfortable in themselves and their environments by letting them know that they are okay and that they are accepted.