Our goal is to improve mental health equity for youth.
At the Affirm Lab, we explore how stigma (e.g., transphobia, racism, sexism) creates and sustains mental health inequities for marginalized youth. Currently, we're developing training interventions to reduce transphobia in mental healthcare and in schools.
Gender-Affirming School Practices
Discrimination at school contributes to mental health inequities for transgender youth. This discrimination might come from peers (e.g., bullying, assault), school staff (e.g., restricting bathroom use), and/or school policies (e.g., using deadnames in school records).
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While many school staff want to support transgender students, few know how.
Interested in the study?
What are Gender-Affirming School Practices?
Gender-affirming school practices are evidence-based strategies that school staff (e.g., teachers, counselors, administrators) use to support the unique needs of transgender youth. Practices include: (1) introducing yourself with pronouns, (2) preventing and intervening in bullying, and (3) facilitating school-based supports (e.g., bathroom access).
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Why it matters: Research shows that transgender youth supported by an adult (e.g., teacher, guidance counselor) using gender-affirming practices experience lower depression, anxiety, and suicidality.
Gender-Affirming School Practices Training
To help school staff better support their transgender students, we created an online self-paced training that incorporates evidence-based strategies and the lived experiences of transgender youth and their caregivers.
What's Next?
1
We asked school staff to review our training to ensure that it's tailored to the needs and experiences of the individuals who are going to use it.
2
Based on direct feedback from school staff, we're editing our training. We're implementing changes to both content and format.
3
We'll be piloting our Gender-Affirming School Practices training in real schools soon!
Publications
* = mentee or student-author
Listed in reverse chronological order