Cultivating self-compassion for sexual and gender minority youth: exploring the benefits of an arts-based mindfulness program

Date

2023-08-30

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Publisher

Laurentian University Library & Archives

Abstract

Growing up in a world that consistently denies and judges your existence presents many mental health challenges for Sexual and Gender Minority Youth (SGMY). For many SGMY living in unsafe or unsupportive households, they lack space to be authentic in their mental health challenges leading to avoidance or maladaptive coping. For SGMY living in Northeastern Ontario, they lack affirming and creative spaces to receive care for their mental health when traditional clinical approaches don’t always meet their needs. My study explored the delivery of an arts-based mindfulness program called “The Holistic Arts-Based Program” (HAP) to SGMY living in Northeastern Ontario experiencing challenges with their mental health and determined several benefits. Qualitative data analysis from pre- and post-group group interviews led to the construction of three main themes that described the participants’ experiences of participating in HAP. The themes are: (1) benefits of learning mindfulness skills/concepts, (2) benefits of arts- based methods, (3) benefits of strength-based group work. Participation in HAP helped SGMY effectively apply and understand mindfulness-based coping strategies to cope with minority stress. HAP also helped SGMY explore their authentic identities and develop self-compassion for them; self-compassion has been evidenced to be a source of resiliency and to act as a protective factor against both internalized homophobia and more negative perceived reactions to coming out. My research demonstrates how HAP can make a difference for SGMY mental health and shows how inherently resilient this population is.

Description

Keywords

Mindfulness, LGBTQ+, Youth, Queer and trans, Self-compassion, Mental health, Arts-based, Group work

Citation