Happy Pride Month, Bloomies! While we recognize that pride doesn’t just exist during the month of June, we wanted to take the opportunity to elevate queer voices in eating disorder and recovery spaces while highlighting both local and nationwide mental health & eating disorder resources for our LGBTQIA+ community and beyond.
Did you know (per the Trevor Project, linked below) that eating disorders impact LGBTQIA+ & queer youth at a disproportionate rate to their heterosexual and cisgender peers?
LGBTQIA+ youth who have been diagnosed with an eating disorder reported nearly four times greater odds of attempting suicide in the past year compared to those who never had, or suspected they had, an eating disorder.
Additionally:
Eating Disorders disproportionately affect those who identify as transgender: Transgender youth are four times more likely to suffer from an eating disorder and twice as likely to engage in purging.
Approximately 13.5% of transgender college students report using diet pills.
16% of transgender individuals have been diagnosed with an eating disorder.
The barriers that our queer and trans community face in seeking affirmative, accessible, and affordable eating disorder treatment are extensive.
While this is just the tip of the iceberg in resourcing and social justice, we want to start this discussion on increasing awareness and equitable access to care in eating disorder spaces. Check out the resources listed below and stay tuned for more.
Community Resource in Northern Colorado
The Rainbow Circles
“We are a not-for-profit organization growing towards being worker-owned providing therapeutic services to all of Colorado virtually with a physical office in Fort Collins for in person visits. We primarily serve LGBTQIA+ youth, adults, partners, and families. Our team strives to center the lived experiences of both clients and clinicians. Our clinicians are experienced in various speciality modalities like play therapy, EMDR and wilderness therapy, as well as traditional therapeutic approaches, and we also provide gender affirming care letter writing services. We specialize in supporting clients in exploring who they are, their strengths, and their concerns in a non-judgmental environment.”
Rainbow Circles has an extensive resource list on their website!
Queer Asterisk
www.queerasterisk.com
“Queer Asterisk empowers and nurtures the diverse ways of being that queer people embody by providing accessible counseling, education, and community programs that uplift queer, trans, and gender expansive lives.”
NoCo SPLASH
https://splashnoco.org
“We serve LGBTQIA+ youth ages 5-24, their families, schools, and community connections by providing support, resources, referrals, social belongingness, and special events; in Larimer and Weld Counties, Colorado. Our programming provides community, family, peer, and individual protective factors against self-harm, suicide, substance misuse, and youth homelessness through engaging young people in their future and connecting them with resources they need to get there.”
CSU’s Pride Resource Center
https://prideresourcecenter.colostate.edu/
“The Pride Resource Center provides programs and services to support the retention and thriving of LGBTQ+ students at Colorado State University.”
UNC’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Center
https://www.unco.edu/gender-sexuality-resource-center/
“The Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) staff looks forward to meeting and engaging with any UNC community members who stop in and utilize our resources. We are located near the University Center at 2215 10th Ave and strive to create an accessible and welcoming space. Our center offers study spaces with computer access, a fully functional kitchen, a library of Queer book and DVD titles available for rent, a backyard garden, in-house counseling services, an all-gender lactation room and restrooms, and two lounge/hangout areas.”
OUT Boulder
“Working independently and in collaboration, we facilitate connection, advocacy, education, research, and programs to ensure LGBTQ+ people and communities thrive in Boulder County and beyond.”
NoCo Equality
“Northern Colorado Equality seeks to empower the LGBTQIA+ community and our allies through activities, programs, services, and education. Honoring, promoting, and celebrating our community’s diversity is our central organizing principle”
Personal Care In Northern Colorado
Haley Nelson at Masque By Mask
All genders all bodies esthetician
Erik Lindstrom at Voltage Salon
Specializes in genderqueer, genderfluid, and queer hair and is a safe space for the queer community
Gives discounts to queer teens and kids
National Resources
Trans Student Educational Resources
“Trans Student Educational Resources is a youth-led organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans and gender nonconforming students through advocacy and empowerment. In addition to our focus on creating a more trans-friendly education system, our mission is to educate the public and teach trans activists how to be effective organizers. We believe that justice for trans and gender nonconforming youth is contingent on an intersectional framework of activism. Ending oppression is a long-term process that can only be achieved through collaborative action.”
National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color Network
To donate: https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/OTM5Njg=
To Learn More: https://nqttcn.com/en/
The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network (NQTTCN) is a healing justice organization committed to transforming mental health for queer and trans people of color (QTPoC). We work at the intersection of movements for social justice and the field of mental health to integrate healing justice into both of these spaces. Our overall goal is to increase access to healing justice resources for QTPoC.
Fighting Eating Disorders in Underrepresented Populations: A Trans+ & Intersex Collective
FEDUP is a collective of trans+, intersex, and gender-diverse people who believe eating disorders in marginalized communities are social justice issues. Our mission is to make visible, interrupt, and undermine the disproportionately high incidence of eating disorders in trans and gender-diverse individuals through radical community healing, recovery institution reform, research, empowerment, and education.
Gender Spectrum
https://www.genderspectrum.org/articles/medical-and-mental-health-resources
Gender Spectrum works to create gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens.
World-Wide Map Of Queer-Owned Businesses
Point of Pride
Our mission is to help the most vulnerable members of our community feel seen and supported through access to life-saving health and wellness services.
Amplifying Queer Voices in ED Recovery
GLSEN
https://www.glsen.org/blog/im-queer-youth-recovery-eating-disorder
“Our mission is to ensure that every member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression”
Third Wheeled
https://thirdwheeled.com/about/
“We started this blog in 2015 to write about eating disorder recovery through a queer lens and document the dual perspectives of patient and nontraditional caregiver. We felt there was a lack of resources for both of these populations and hope that by sharing our story we start to fill that gap and provide comfort to others. We hope to continue advocating for inclusive and competent research, representation, awareness, prevention, and treatment of eating disorders in the LGBTQIA+ community.”
The Trevor Project
www.thetrevorproject.org
“The Trevor Project is committed to finding ways for all LGBTQ youth to feel safe and supported. Our 24/7 crisis services connect youth with culturally competent and affirming adults, and our TrevorSpace platform connects youth with supportive peers. Further, Trevor’s research, advocacy, and education teams are focused on using data, policies, and education to enhance the ability of youth-serving professionals to understand and address their mental health needs.“
To Learn More:
Nation-Wide Eating Disorder Treatment/Support
Center for Discovery
Evidenced-based eating disorder treatment
Walden ED Treatment
https://www.waldeneatingdisorders.com/virtual-eating-disorder-treatment-for-lgbtq/
Rainbow Road – Virtual Eating Disorder Treatment for LGBTQIA+ clients from LGBTQ+ providers
Support Groups
Liberating Jasper
https://www.liberatingjasper.com/service-page/virtual-queer-peer-ed-support-group
A virtual eating disorder peer support group for queer-identifying adults. Run by Kent Thomas and open to those at any stage of eating recovery (no official eating disorder diagnosis required)
Eating Recovery Center
https://www.eatingrecoverycenter.com/support-groups/lgbtq-eating-disorder-body-image-monday
The virtual LGBTQ+ Midday Eating Disorder Support Group is an opportunity for ERC alumni and community members to receive midday support in a group within a safe space for those who identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. This group is open to anyone who identifies as LGBTQ+ and that is seeking eating disorder recovery & body image support. We will provide peer support for the unique challenges that individuals in this group may be facing whether in their eating disorder recovery, or identity journey. Please note, the group is a supplemental support and is not a replacement for higher levels of care, therapy, or medical advice.
FEDUP COLLECTIVE
For a list of support groups and Facebook pages please visit
Eating Disorder Foundation
https://eatingdisorderfoundation.org/get-help/support-groups/
EDF LGBTQ+ Eating Disorder Support Group
EDF Virtual Trans + & Nonbinary Support Group