Introduction to Part II

In the next part of this book, the focus shifts from activities used directly with LGBTQ+ youth to those used on their behalf. Part II has a three-tiered approach to caring for LGBTQ+ youth:

1. Individual

2. Family

3. Community

The individual tier is addressed in Chapters Eight and Nine, focusing on self-compassion, kindness for reactions, and compassion, as well as increased mindful awareness and empathic capacity for both professionals and the LGBTQ+ youth in their care. In addition to addressing the internal experiences, implicit bias, and socialized stereotypes, the clinician/educator also needs tools to bring authentic acceptance and affirmation to the LGBTQ+ youth in their care. Just like professionals need self-compassion to cope with the demands of being caring professionals, LGBTQ+ youth also benefit from learning selfcompassion practices.

Chapter Nine shows the clinician/educator how to safely train LGBTQ+ youth in self-compassion while mitigating risks. Moreover, the research demonstrates that family acceptance is correlated with improved outcomes for LGBTQ+ youth (Ryan et al., 2009; 2010; Grant et al., 2011; Newton, 2014; HRC, 2012), which leads to Chapter 10 focusing on strategies for helping. Chapter 11 closes out Part II, and this book, with social justice strategies that clinicians, educators, administrators, and parents can use to make schools safer for LGBTQ+ youth.

     ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS THEORY

LEARN

Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory suggests that people are part of interconnected and related systems, with the individual at the center. LGBTQ+ youth, for example, are inseparable unique elements of a social network made up of five different systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Empathizing with LGBTQ+ youth through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory leads to understanding the impact surrounding systems have upon individuals.

Microsystem:

• The individual, their biology, or specific religious and cultural contexts, and unique peer groups.

• Microsystems also include home and domestic life, immediate neighbors, and classroom.

Mesosystem:

• The connection and interplay between places like home, school, and neighborhood where each individual interacts.

Exosystem:

• Local industry, the school boards, mass media, and parental workplaces that impact LGBTQ+ youth even if they don’t directly access these organizations.

• Major institutions that reflect culture, practices, policies, and even legislation enacted.

• The links that can occur between a setting where one doesn’t have an active role and their immediate context. For example, laws on marriage equality do not directly affect young LGBTQ+ people who may not be old enough to marry, but those laws do impact how they see themselves, their future, and their sense of belonging in a community.

Macrosystem:

• The layer of social-ecology that binds the other interacting layers together.

• The dominant set of beliefs that organize the other systems beneath it, and refers to culture, customs, countries, and socioeconomic status, as well as attitudes that shape large groups of people.

Chronosystem:

• The interplay of life transitions, environmental events, and socio-historical influences on people.

• The pattern of environmental events and changes that occur, and the socio-historical circumstances surrounding these changes.

PRACTICE

The following worksheet is useful for both chapters Eight and Nine, and can be used by the clinician or educator, as well as with LGBTQ+ youth, too. It is intended to create an overview of the different systems interacting in the lives of youth.

  MICROSYSTEMS

Microsystems are the unique individual, school, home, family, neighborhood, or religions that LGBTQ+ youth have direct contact with. These structures, relationships, biology, and organizations impact LGBTQ+ youth internally and externally. Meaning, they impact the youth from within, like the influence of hormones and genes, while also impinging from the outside, like toxins, cultural views, beliefs, and values. It’s important to remember that relationships between microsystems are bi-directional and influence one another in a back and forth fashion (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).

a. Who are you considering at this moment? ___________ (Write your name if it’s you, or the name of the youth you care for.)

b. How do you/they define your/their gender and/or sexuality? ___________

c. Where do you/they live? ___________ (With family, friends, alone, group home, homeless, foster care?)

d. Who is part of your/their family? (List parents, siblings, extended family.)

                                 

e.  Are you/they religious? What is your/their religion?

                                 

f.  Who are your/their friends and acquaintances?

                                 

g.  Which school do you/they attend?

                                 

h.  What are your/their teachers like?

                                 

i.  What is the neighborhood you/they live in like?

                                 

These nine questions help you get more clarity about the different microsystems in a person’s life.

  MESOSYSTEM

These eight questions help you get more clarity about how the different mesosystems interact with each other in a dynamic way.

Mesosystem describes the relationships between microsystems.

a. Thinking about your/their home, how do you/they interact with it? Are you/they involved in the care and sustainability of it? If so, how? If not, why?

                             

b. How are the interactions between the people who live in your/their home?

                             

c. Thinking about your/their religious setting (if applicable), how are your interactions with that microsystem, the ideology, people, and rituals?

                             

d. Consider the neighborhood you/they live in. What is it like?

                             

e. Do you/they interact with others in your their neighborhood? How is it?

                             

f. Do you/they go to any community events, services, or offerings? Are there any LGBTQ+ organizations, clubs, and places where you/they are/can be involved?

                             

g. When thinking about your/their school, what is it like? Is it welcoming and inclusive? Is there a GSA? Why/why not?

                             

h. How are your/their interactions with school? This is an important question to consider, so please take time to answer it, and use another piece of paper if needed.

                             

  EXOSYSTEM

The exosystem is a larger organization of people serving the community that impacts the lives of LGBTQ+ youth, even though the youth themselves don’t have any power in those exosystems. Examples of exosystems include: local government, the school board, local industry, mass media, and parental workplaces.

These six questions help you get more clarity about how the different exosystems impact LGBTQ+ youth.

a. The school board is a major influencer upon the lives of LGBTQ+ youth. From the laws they enforce to the policies they implement, top-down power systems impact LGBTQ+ youth in very specific and potentially harmful ways. Thinking about yourself (or the person you care for), how do educational laws and policies affect you/them?

                             

b. Although school boards have great influence upon the lives of LGBTQ+ youth, the youth themselves have little to no power to affect these exosystems. Reflect now on the experience and impact of having little power to effect change in the school board exosystems that control you, or the person you care for.

                             

c. The local government is intended to be a place of democratic involvement, however; only 50 to 55 percent of eligible voters turned out to vote in presidential elections in the United States in 2012 and in 2016 (Peters & Wooley, 2017; Wallace, 2016). This suggests that US citizens do not participate in government. What impact does this have on you, or the LGBTQ+ person you care about?

                             

d. Some organizations in the U.S. have policies that are unfriendly to LGBTQ+ people. If this is true for you, or the LGBTQ+ person you care about, please describe it below. Not all parental workplaces are discriminatory and impact LGBTQ+ youth, but it can happen.

                             

e. Mass media send messages everyday about what people need, how they should live their lives, who matters, and who does not. Looking at the advertising and media messages you’ve seen in the last 24 to 72 hours, what messages are offered about LGBTQ+ people?

                             

f. Local industry refers to the stores and businesses that exist in your community. Thinking about the ones you (or the LGBTQ+ person you care about) go/goes to, what messages do they offer to the LGBTQ+ community? Some may not offer any messages at all. That’s also something to write about.

                             

  MACROSYSTEMS

Macrosystems are the culture and ideology that shape values, laws, policy, and standards of conduct. It influences individuals directly even if they don’t influence it at all. Examples of macrosystems include democracy; capitalism; socialism; religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism; and ethnic groups such as being Asian or Indian, for example. Macrosystems also create the conditions for intersectionality – the various social, cultural, biological, racial, religious, and ethnic identities that intersect and lead to increased rates of discrimination and oppression.

•  Thinking about the various ideologies that you (or the LGBTQ+ person you care about) are/is exposed to, how do they impact you/them? Ideologies can include religions, ethnicities, and cultures.

                             

  CHRONOSYSTEM

Bronfenbrenner (1979) referred to the chronosystem as the collection of unique life experiences a person has while interacting with the various systems. It includes life transitions and the person’s unique history. In the space provided below, write all about your/the other person’s unique life story.

                                 

REFLECT

•  This is the framework used for Part II, and also for understanding Educational Trauma.

•  You can fill out the form above with any LGBTQ+ youth you care about in mind, or you can give it to them to complete about themselves. When you complete it about someone else, it’s an activity that compliments Chapter Eight.

•  When you offer this form to an LGBTQ+ youth you care about, it reflects the activities in Chapter Nine.

     EDUCATIONAL TRAUMA

LEARN

Educational Trauma is the systemic and cyclical harm faced by students, educators, parents, administrators, and communities as a result of interacting educational systems (Gray, 2013, 2015, 2016). It is perpetrated inadvertently in many instances, and exists on a spectrum ranging from mild to so severe as to ruin a person’s life.

The spectrum of Educational Trauma explains the pervasive trauma rampant in schools, and is a range of events impacting communities by spreading a sense of helplessness and feelings of disempowerment. Poor communities, people ofcolor, and LGBTQ+ youth are among those most vulnerable to Educational Trauma (Snapp et al., 2015; Losen & Gillespie, 2012).

“My teen collaborators define Educational Trauma as any trauma that happens at school.”

PRACTICE

The Spectrum of Educational Trauma

The following are examples of harm occurring in schools:

•  Testing and grade-based/age-based standardized curricula

•  Bullying of/by educators

•  Bullying of/by students

•  Collective punishment

•  Corporal punishment

•  Special and gifted education

•  ADHD and the use of stimulant medication

•  Rejection, harassment, abuse, assault, and bathroom/locker room issues related to LGBTQ+ youth in schools

•  The School-to-Prison Pipeline and the legal segregation of black, brown, poor, and LGBTQ+ youth (for more, see Chapter 11, #6) (Alexander, 2012; Losen & Gillespie, 2012; Snapp et al., 2015)

Signs and Symptoms of Educational Trauma

•  Resistance to school tasks and assignments

•  Low self-esteem

•  School refusal

•  Eating disorders

•  Anxiety and sadness

•  Aversion to school events

•  Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and powerlessness

•  Mood disorders

•  Failure to function at average/expected levels; doesn’t meet potential

•  Theft

•  Learning difficulties

•  Low or inconsistent academic achievement

•  Attention problems

•  Substance abuse

•  Aggressive behavior

•  Disruptive behavior

•  Oppositional behavior

•  Defiance

•  Irritability

•  Explosive behavior

•  Suicidal and/or homicidal ideation

Misdiagnoses of Educational Trauma:

•  Generalized Anxiety Disorder

•  Major Depressive Disorder

•  Learning disabilities

•   Disorders of communication, such as Receptive and Expressive Language Disorders and Selective Mutism

•  Oppositional Defiant Disorder

•  Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

•  Intermittent Explosive Disorder

•  Somatic problems

•  Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

•  Eating disorders

REFLECT

•  Thinking about the LGBTQ+ youth you care about, do any of these experiences resonate with the ones they report?

•  Now, reflecting on the educational system, school policies, and the laws that govern how students learn, are there any you disagree with? Why or why not?

•  Could you see yourself standing up and advocating for LGBTQ+ youth in schools where Educational Trauma happens disproportionately to them every day (Snapp et al.)?

•   If and when you do voice your opposition to harmful educational practices that have been normalized in our culture, by laws and policies, you will be serving an important role!

“One action doesn’t remedy the system, yet it is critical to the system being remedied!”