This class explores how legislative and policy environments influence the mental health, healthcare access, and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ individuals. Participants will examine recent legislative trends affecting queer and trans communities and discuss how these broader systems shape clinical experiences and outcomes. The workshop also reviews relevant ethical guidelines from major helping professions that support advocacy as part of ethical practice. Using an ecological systems framework, participants will consider how advocacy can occur at micro, meso, and macro levels within professional roles. Practical examples will illustrate ways clinicians and healthcare providers can support clients affected by policy-related stress and systemic barriers. Participants will leave with concrete strategies for ethically engaging in advocacy that supports equitable access to care for LGBTQ+ communities.

Mitchell is a queer counselor and counselor educators, and also is chair of the Public Policy Committee for SAIGE, the LGBTQ+ division of the American Counseling Association. 

Participants will gain tools to understand the mental health impacts of policy on queer and trans communities and identify practical advocacy strategies within their professional scope.