scholarly journals Ending the Silence: Utilizing Personal Experiences to Enhance a Library Mental Health Initiative

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Sabrina Thomas ◽  
Kacy Lovelace

This article summarizes a panel presentation given at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington D.C. (June 22, 2019). The panel consisted of Sabrina Thomas, research and instruction librarian at Marshall University; Leah Tolliver, director of wellness programs and the Women’s and Gender Center at Marshall University; C. Michelle Alford, senior library IT consultant at Marshall University; and Kacy Lovelace, research and student success librarian at Marshall University. Tenikka Phillips, EAP coordinator at Cabell Huntington Hospital, worked extensively on the project but was unable to take part in the panel presentation. The following is a conversation between Sabrina Thomas and Kacy Lovelace discussing how their own personal experiences with mental health challenges and trauma served to enhance the mental health initiative in their academic library.

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (10) ◽  
pp. 546
Author(s):  
Sabrina Thomas ◽  
Kacy Lovelace

In the face of seemingly insurmountable, persisting problems, what is one thing that you could do to lift that burden in your own space, in your own building, or on your own walls?This defining question led to the creation of Marshall University (MU) Libraries Mental Health Initiative. The initiative began with an art exhibition titled: “Don’t Call Me Crazy: Resiliency through Art.” The goal of this exhibition was to encourage students, faculty, and staff to create artwork informed by mental health or to help process their own mental health. With more than 30 artists and 50 pieces filling the four floors of the library, we used this artwork to launch other aspects of the initiative.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Cramer ◽  
Martha Shumway ◽  
Amanda M. Amacker ◽  
Dale E. McNiel ◽  
Sarah Holley ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Dawn M. Szymanski ◽  
Kirsten A. Gonzalez

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) persons are able to persevere and flourish despite pervasive social stigma and minority stress based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. This chapter reviews the research on LGBTQ resilience that can occur at individual, interpersonal/family, community, and contextual/structural levels. The authors describe qualitative research that has examined pathways to resilience and positive LGBTQ identity. The authors also review quantitative research on LGBTQ resilience via mediator, moderator, and moderated mediation models. Variables are described that have been found to explain or buffer the links between external and internalized minority stressors and mental health outcomes. The authors review the small but growing body of research that has begun to examine the efficacy of therapeutic interventions aimed at promoting LGBTQ resilience. Limitations are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.


Author(s):  
Jessica N. Fish ◽  
Laura Baams ◽  
Jenifer K. McGuire

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) young people are coming of age at a time of dynamic social and political changes with regard to LGBTQ rights and visibility around the world. And yet, contemporary cohorts of SGM youth continue to evidence the same degree of compromised mental health demonstrated by SGM youth of past decades. The authors review the current research on SGM youth mental health, with careful attention to the developmental and contextual characteristics that complicate, support, and thwart mental health for SGM young people. Given a large and rapidly growing body of science in this area, the authors strategically review research that reflects the prevalence of these issues in countries around the world but also concentrate on how mental health concerns among SGM children and youth are shaped by experiences with schools, families, and communities. Promising mental health treatment strategies for this population are reviewed. The chapter ends with a focus on understudied areas in the SGM youth mental health literature, which may offer promising solutions to combat SGM population health disparities and promote mental health among SGM young people during adolescence and as they age across the life course.


Author(s):  
Esther D. Rothblum

The Oxford Handbook of Sexual and Gender Minority Mental Health provides an overview of the current research on the mental health of sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations. It is aimed at researchers conducting studies on the mental health of SGM populations, clinicians and researchers interested in psychiatric disorders that affect SGM populations, clinicians using evidence-based practice in the treatment of SGM patients/clients, students in mental health programs (clinical psychology, psychiatry, clinical social work, and psychiatric nursing), and policymakers. This chapter defines some terms and provides an overview of current and past SGM research methods.


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