Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 22:08:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Caitlin Ryan basryan@cpcug.org
Subject: News

GROUNDBREAKING GUIDE TO HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH CARE OF LESBIAN AND GAY YOUTH RELEASED AT WASHINGTON, DC RECEPTION

"We wrote this book to save lives," say Lesbian & Gay Youth: Care & Counseling authors Caitlin Ryan and Donna Futterman.

For Immediate Release

Published by Columbia University Press, following publication by the adolescent section journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, LESBIAN & GAY YOUTH: CARE & COUNSELING offers peer-reviewed guidelines for practitioners on the health and mental health care of these youth.
Co-authors Caitlin Ryan, MSW, ACSW and Donna Futterman, MD wrote the book as a follow up to the federal government's first conference on the primary care needs of lesbian and gay youth. Ryan and Futterman coordinated the conference for the Health Services and Resources Administration in 1994.

Despite the fact that lesbian and gay youth are more visible in the media in recent years, they remain invisible and medically under-served within the nation's health care system. Fear of ridicule, abuse and violence prevent many youth from revealing their lesbian or gay identity even to health and mental health providers. At the same time, lack of understanding of the needs and vulnerabilities of lesbian and gay adolescents and the stresses they experience as a stigmatized group prevents the delivery of appropriate care.

Ryan, a clinical social worker, and Futterman, a pediatrician, have worked on lesbian and gay health issues since the 1970s and are experts in lesbian and gay health, mental health, adolescents and HIV/AIDS. They have developed this resource for use in clinical settings, policy making, program administration and professional training.

"Prejudice and fear of homosexuality have social, behavioral and health-related consequences. Health and mental health providers need to know the questions to ask and the answers to give when working with adolescents who are questioning their sexual identity or 'coming out' as lesbian or gay. We wrote this book to save lives," said Ryan. "If used consistently, this book has the potential for changing the paradigm of care for sexual minority youth and for bringing them into the medical mainstream," added Futterman, co-author and Director of the Adolescent AIDS Program at Montefiore Medical Center.

Providers in a variety of disciplines are praising the book with enthusiastic reviews. Dr. Arthur Elster, Director of the American Medical Association's Department of Adolescent Medicine, called it "a superb array of scientific information to help improve the health status and well being of a most vulnerable segment of our population." David Harvey, Executive Director, of the AIDS Policy Center for Children, Youth and Families, described it as "a critical tool in the fight against AIDS [that] establishes the standard of care for all adolescents at risk for HIV infection, and especially lesbian, gay and bisexual youth." And Catherine Tuerk, a psychiatric nurse and president of the DC Metro Chapter of Parents, Friends, and Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) called it the "Dr. Spock of the 90s for parents of gay and lesbian youth."

For more information or to arrange for an interview with the co-authors, as well as lesbian and gay youth, practitioners and health care providers upon whom this book impacts, contact Caitlin Ryan at CaitlinON@aol.com
Website: http://members.aol.com/ouryouth/feat/feat5.htm

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