LGBT in Health Associations

[lavender_stingray]

Hi y'all, I'm a student at the new Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall. I'm starting an LGBT in Health group. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions or tips from experience. The administration and student body is very receptive.

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[lavender_stingray]

Hi y'all, I'm a student at the new Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall. I'm starting an LGBT in Health group. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions or tips from experience. The administration and student body is very receptive.

I wanted to bump this to see if anyone would be willing to talk about what they thought was successful in an LGBT in health group

 

[Spectre of Ockham]

There is a subforum dedicated to such type of issues. You might have better luck posting that there.

 

[wholeheartedly]

There is a subforum dedicated to such type of issues. You might have better luck posting that there.

Moving to lgbt forum

 

[kraskadva]

I haven't started one, but I am president of the pre-existing one at my school (RFUMS). What questions did you have?

If the admin and student body is receptive, then start it and wave some rainbow flags. It will develop as you go along and then will change/redevelop as you hand it down through the years to future students.

 

[lavender_stingray]

Thank you so much for your help, Spektre of Ockham and wholeheartedly!

Kraskadva, what events did you find were successful or helpful? What resources did you use to educate your peers on LGBT health issues?

 

[otterxavier]

I've been one of the co-chairs of my school's LGBTQ group -- here are some of the kinds of things we've done:
- March in the local Pride parade: we wear white coats and hand out apples!
- Outreach with admissions: in early spring we do a phone bank to call admitted students who have identified themselves as LGBTQ on their applications, and we've done an informal coffee shop meet-up at the end of the admitted students visit day
- Workshops on trans health: this is an area where you can collaborate with local LGBTQ organizations if there isn't anyone in your group who feels knowledgeable enough to lead a workshop
- Working with our school to encorporate more LGBTQ content into the curriculum, improve the way that they teach sexual history taking, advocate for pronouns on nametags, etc.
- We usually have a small potluck/gathering around December, and again toward the end of the school year

If Seton Hall has other LGBTQ groups or an LGBTQ center on campus, you might reach out to them to see how you can collaborate or share resources with them.

All that said, I think the most important thing for any new student group is to set reasonable goals, identify and train your future leadership early, and document everything you do (so that no one has to reinvent the wheel later on). It's less important to do a lot of stuff right away, and more important to leave a good foundation for the group to expand in the future.

(omg, how many times can I use the acronym LGBTQ in this post??)

 

[kraskadva]

Thank you so much for your help, Spektre of Ockham and wholeheartedly!

Kraskadva, what events did you find were successful or helpful? What resources did you use to educate your peers on LGBT health issues?

@otterxavier kinda beat me to the punch

Our group does most of those things too
-we weren't able to march in Pride (I didn't get it organized early enough) but I did take folks down to watch and we handed out condoms
-we do some outreach and education in partnership with the Diversity & Inclusion office and the clinical skills class
-we also do a handful of social events through the year for folks to meet/hang out/see other faces that they know are on the team or friendly

For resources, some we make, some we borrow. Depends on the end goal and what is available. I'm also working on networking with other med schools in the area to pool resources for education.

For us it kinda ends up being a bit different every year as successive presidents have different priorities.
So to turn the question around, what do you want to do? What do you feel is lacking at your school that an organization like this could help address?

 

[lavender_stingray]

Thank you for these suggestions otterxavier and kraskadva. I'm really interested in providing education about LGBT health because many of my classmates have expressed feeling like they don't know enough

 

[kraskadva]

Cool. Go for it. Charter it, set it up, get a roster going.
Then, if you want to focus on education and need materials to start with, I'd recommend contacting the other med schools around you (there's...a dozen?... in a 2 hour radius from you). Call up their Diversity offices, ask to be put in touch with whoever heads their LGBT clubs, and ask if you can get materials from them. People are usually willing to share. Then go to who ever does your clinical skills classes, or what ever class it would best fit into, and ask how you can incorporate that material. Or set up a extra info session or three on your own and talk to faculty about incorporating that material in future years.
You can also reach out to the local chapter of GLMA - they're big into education and outreach.
If you have other folks working with you, delegate some of this to them as well so you aren't taking on everything. If you don't have other folks, recruit some.

Go forth and make it happen and best of luck!

 

[lavender_stingray]

Thank you so much for the advice, kraskadva!

 

[deleted823360]

Hi y'all, I'm a student at the new Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall. I'm starting an LGBT in Health group. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions or tips from experience. The administration and student body is very receptive.

Hi, this is awesome! Although I don't have any pointers, I was wondering if you wrote about your interest in LGBT health (or if you identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, were you out on the secondary?). Thank you in advance

 

[Doctor of Democracy]

Would starting a straight club be in appropriate? We could march in a parade too. And hand out condoms.

 

[tantacles]

I haven't started one, but I am president of the pre-existing one at my school (RFUMS). What questions did you have?

If the admin and student body is receptive, then start it and wave some rainbow flags. It will develop as you go along and then will change/redevelop as you hand it down through the years to future students.

Oh, dear. As one of the former presidents of that very group, I hope our admin have gotten the message that queer is not a bad word.