Social Media and Video Conferencing Platforms for Group Therapy and Community Mental Health Outreach for LGBTQIA+ Individuals— The SAAHAS Experience

E-health and telehealth are rapidly evolving areas of intervention that may show high potential for use with LGBTQIA+ individuals. Research on the therapeutic utility of these with respect to mental health is limited, particularly in India. SAAHAS (Sexuality, Acceptance, Awareness, Health, and Support) is a queer-affirmative, cognitive behavior therapy-based group therapy model of intervention for LGBTQIA+ individuals. We describe here our facilitator experience with expanding the offline group therapy model to online platforms using Google Meet, with an analysis of attendance and modalities of engagement and a description of our therapy notes and themes of discussion. We describe facilitator experience of continued therapeutic support through WhatsApp by analyzing the chats and thematic coding of the same. We also describe here our attempt at using social media for community mental health outreach through dissemination of mental health messages on Instagram and Facebook; data was analyzed using engagement metrics. Observations of the utility and limitations of these video conferencing and social media platforms and suggestions for effective use are provided.

Probing Characteristics of Visuals in Mental Health Outreach An animation explaining the biogenic etiology of depression

This study sought to demonstrate keycharacteristics of successful mental health outreach(MHO) educational programs through an audio-visual tooladdressing biogenic etiology of depression.Methods Candidate characteristics were identied basedon review of MHO literature, evaluated through informalfeedback sessions and nalized following committee andcontent expert review. Conclusion Key characteristicsindicative of successful visuals in MHO includedemphasizing malleability of biology, familiar characters,and minimizing literacy barriers. Tools created for MHOshould include these key characteristics.