Supporting our LGBTQ+ Familia This National Recovery Month

Our LGBTQ+ familia comes in all shades of the rainbow and this month we want to make sure we’re celebrating our friends, family and community in recovery on National Recovery Month. This month it means being informed about the ways substance use affects our community and the evolving resources out there to help our familia who is looking for support.

Celebrate National Recovery Month

September is National Recovery Month. According to the RRI (which stands for Recovery Research Institute), it is estimated that 20 to 30 percent of LGBTQ+ individuals are facing some addiction form, compared with 10 percent of the general population.

This means that LGBTQ+ youths, despite immense progress, are still twice as likely to suffer from substance addiction as their heterosexual peers. As a matter of fact, despite substance use disorder affects the vast majority of the LGBTQ+ community, recovery still looks greatly heteronormative.

Both online recovery communities and mutual aid meetings are geared more to heterosexual individuals, making these places feel exclusive to the LGBTQ+ community. However, LGBTQ+ people represent 12 percent of all Americans who have found the way out (recovery).

Why the Risk of Substance Use Disorder is Higher for LGBTQ+ People

Unfortunately substance use is a big factor affecting our community. People who identify as part of this group, whether they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, or other, are at a statistically higher risk of substance use disorder because they are facing increasing discrimination, stigma, and many other challenges daily – such as social rejection, exclusionary governmental policies, violence, harassment, queer healthcare inequalities, hate crimes (especially aimed at other ethnic groups like Latino), and other difficulties and barriers to accessing employment, healthcare, and quality housing.

These challenges that present themselves in different ways and for many in the Latine community, coping with any combination of these can lead to a path of substance use.

Key Facts:

According to the previously mentioned RRI and NIDA (National Institue on Drug Abuse):

• Gay, Lesbian, and other bisexual individuals are 20 percent more likely to have substance use disorder and 18 percent more likely to have an alcohol problem.

• Less than 80 percent of gay/lesbian/bisexual people have access to healthcare.

• LGBTQ+ people have a greater likelihood of facing substance use disorder and are more likely to start drinking earlier.

Ten years ago, in 2011, a study found that 23% of transgender Latina/o respondents and 20% of transgender African American respondents were refused medical care because of their identity. As a matter of fact, another study found that more than 2/3 of transgender participants were discriminated against by health care providers. We certainly hope times have changes, but the fact of the matter is all industries including the healthcare indusrty can still do better.

On top of that, there is a lack of substance abuse treatment programs that have culturally competent programming and trained staff to meet the needs of this population.

The Importance of an LGBTQ+ Rehab Center

Many times progress starts with forming communities and we’re starting to see LGBTQ+ focused treatment centers that provide a welcoming community for people looking to find support in recovery. An LGBTQ+ treatment program or center is intentionally built around the specific needs of the LGBTQ+ community, which means that these centers usually offer an array of programs categorized by sexual orientation or gender identity and are staffed by highly trained professionals who are highly familiar with LGBTQ+ problems or are even part of the community themselves.

One of the greatest advantages of  LGBTQ+ treatment centers is a shared understanding of the unique challenges and stressors that this community has to deal with due to their identity.

Staff who are not part of the LGBTQ+ community are highly trained to truly understand the worries and needs of individuals and provide a warm, welcoming, and non judgmental environment for substance use disorder treatments.

Besides that, those centers are not only in charge of helping patients to stay sober – they also offer the full range of programming that provides extra support to address other specific problems like:

• Familial rejection
• Discrimination
• Homophobia & transphobia
• Coming out

The LBGTQ+ community rate of addiction compared to other groups is concerning, as are the obstacles and challenges these individuals face every single day that can contribute to a substance use disorder.

By having support and entering a rehab center that is exclusively specialized in LGBT health, care, and addiction, you or your close ones will feel like a part of the majority group rather than the minority and be surrounded by people who can provide support and encourage you to stay on the right path.

If you or someone you care about is struggling with any sort of addiction, a good call is to contact a dedicated treatment provider and learn how to make the recovery journey fun or be supportive of the sober people you love.

The Wrap Up

National Recovery Month’s mission is simple – to provide a fun, safe, and enriching experience to ​the sober and help others trying to get there. And a great first step to getting there is being educated.