57.3 TRANSCENDING CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS BARRIERS: WORKING WITH GENDER-DIVERSE YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES IN THE PANDEMIC AND BEYOND

Abstract

Objectives: Like all families, the families of gender-diverse youth present with beliefs, values, and patterns of interacting stemming from their lived experience of community, culture, and ethnicity. Appreciation of a family’s values can help family members find common ground and enable them to provide crucial affirmation for gender-diverse youth. However, child and adolescent psychiatrists often receive little training in incorporating cultural differences in family therapy and may struggle to address culturally based beliefs about gender identity and sexuality that differ from their own. Changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic have presented additional, unforeseen treatment challenges but have also provided unexpected opportunities, including some relevant for gender-diverse youth, especially transitional-aged youth impacted by devastating losses in employment and education. Attendees will leave with an increased awareness of cultural factors that can affect family acceptance and new ideas for utilizing telehealth and other unusual approaches. Methods: The presenter will provide a review of available evidence about applicable cultural factors and telehealth modalities, with a focus on gender-diverse transitional-aged youth. The presenter will use clinical case vignettes and video clips to highlight challenges and opportunities under pandemic conditions and beyond. Results: Understanding a family’s underlying cultural values can play an important role in establishing a solid therapeutic alliance and allow for more meaningful communication, which is especially important in family therapy with gender-diverse, transitional-aged youth, and their families, who may be struggling with additional pandemic-related stressors. Awareness of the unique benefits of telehealth may improve clinicians’ effectiveness. Together, these can help promote positive outcomes for gender-diverse youth. Conclusions: It is important to consider and address culturally influenced beliefs and values when working with gender-diverse youth and their families, and it is important to incorporate available resources, such as telehealth modalities. This can lead to improvements in therapeutic relationships and communication, which can have a significant impact on family acceptance and lead to more positive mental health outcomes for youth. FT, CUL, SEX