Monthly Milwaukee Meeting: “Being ‘Crazy’ versus Being Oppressed”

“Being ‘Crazy’ versus Being Oppressed: Why Trans People Experience Higher Rates of Mental Health Concerns and What You Can Do About It.”

Description:
Trans people are inundated with messages from others — including being called “crazy.”  Many internalize this charged word and fear its implications.  Others may internalize the stigma related to mental health.
Trans people report more depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts than do non-trans people. Even though an untrue narrative may be circulating that trans people inherently experience more mental health concerns, the research says that trans people are more likely to report these symptoms the result of living with minority stress. What *is* minority stress? More importantly, what can you do to counter its health-draining effects?
Come hear how stigma and rejection from others has been shown to be linked to mental health concerns and how you can enhance your own and your loved ones’ resistance (and resilience!) to their effects.
 
Speaker: Stephanie L. Budge, PhD
Stephanie L. Budge, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006 and received her PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on improving cultural competence in psychotherapy and in organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals. Specifically, her research has a main focus on emotional and coping processes for transgender individuals, as well as the effectiveness of medical and psychotherapeutic treatments for transgender clients. She provides clinical trainings nationally and internationally related to LGBTQ issues, focusing on practitioners’ self-efficacy, knowledge, awareness, and skills. At the University of Wisconsin, she promotes LGBTQ activism on campus by providing workshops to students, faculty, and staff related to navigating identity within a university environment. As a licensed psychologist, she has provided pro-bono therapy to transgender youth and has chaired an ad-hoc committee committed to ensuring that bathrooms on campus are visibly friendly and accessible spaces for all students. For her activism and research efforts, she received the American Psychological Association LGBT Outstanding Community Contributions award (2011) and the APA LGBT Early Career Professional Award (2015) from the Society for Counseling Psychology. Stephanie is currently an Associate Editor of Psychotherapy. She also oversees the Counseling Psychology Training Clinic (CPTC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison one day a week, where she supervises masters and doctoral counseling psychology trainees.
 

What’s the purpose of FORGE’s Milwaukee Monthly Meetings?

1. Share information on pre-selected subjects.
   [Ideas for discussions, speakers, books, films, and panels are initiated by group recommendations and facilitator suggestions. With only 12 monthly meetings per year, these topics only touch a small number of areas with plenty of room for post-meeting discussion and other groups to take on other topics.]
2. Provide support for people who attend.
   [All people who are interested in trans and gender non-binary issues are welcome.
   We encourage people to participate at their level of comfort.
3. [Note: Milwaukee Monthly Meetings are not political action or social justice-focused events. Our purpose is support and information-sharing. There is ample community space for political organizing, confronting injustice, and creating action agendas.
   FORGE monthly meetings are not that space.]

WORKING AGREEMENTS
Creating a space where people can feel free to participate is important. These are some working agreements and principles that FORGE meetings operate under. We will review and add to this list at tonight’s meeting.

1. Confidentiality / Privacy
2. Use “I” statements
3. One person / one mic
4. Move up / move back
5. Oops and ouch (and snap)
6. People can choose to be quiet / Participation is voluntary
7. We are more than our gender (or any one identity/component)
8. Speak about own experiences – please do not talk about others not in the room
9. Criticism-free zone – no hurtful or negative comments about individuals or agencies
10. In this support-centered space, everyone has an equal voice
11. Respect different backgrounds, experiences, and identities
12. Remember we all have trauma