LGBTQ Community & Addiction
Many members of the LGBTQ community actively avoid seeking help to overcome addiction. Everyone has unique reasons to forego treatment, but it is essential for everyone to feel comfortable and safe seeking potentially life-saving treatment in an environment where they feel supported. Our San Fernando Valley treatment program focuses on LGBTQ-friendly treatment models that are proven to be the most effective way to overcome addiction. Research indicates that specialized treatment plans lead to improved treatment outcomes over programs not specializing in LGBTQ treatment.
Are There LGBTQ Addiction Treatment Programs?
In the past decade, increased efforts within the medical and mental health community have done a lot to reduce stigma and stigmatizing behaviors toward the LGBTQ community. While progress has indeed occurred, there remains much work and a long way to go before youth, teens, and adults who identify as LGBTQ feel safe and supported as they take their first steps towards overcoming drug or alcohol addiction.
Because of the remaining stigma and ongoing stressors faced by LGBTQ youth and adults, many first turn to drugs or alcohol as a way to cope. In time, substance use becomes a safety net that helps the individual manage day-to-day obligations. While drugs or alcohol may help reduce the intensity of life stressors, it does not remove them. These ongoing issues lead many within the LGBTQ community to actively avoid seeking help at a traditional treatment program.
Fortunately, there are a growing number of specialized treatment programs that focus on the needs of LGBTQ individuals. These programs center on the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of LGBTQ community members seeking help to get well. There are many benefits to choosing an LGBTQ-specific addiction treatment program.
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What Are the Benefits of Addiction Treatment for the LGBTQ Community?
Countless studies indicate that choosing a San Fernando Valley inpatient addiction treatment program where you feel supported, safe, and comfortable is essential to achieving lasting recovery. If you or a loved one identify as LGBTQ, choosing a rehab specializing in LGBTQ care is critical to your overall treatment success. As you take the first steps on your recovery journey, it is crucial to feeling safe and understood. Choosing a program without this type of comprehensive emotional and spiritual support may lead to challenges in completing your addiction treatment program or to relapse after completing treatment.
LGBTQ inpatient addiction treatment programs help improve opportunities for positive treatment outcomes by ensuring treatment plans and therapeutic models used as part of those plans are designed to address your needs and goals. Our treatment providers implement simple changes or alterations to traditional addiction treatment programs to offer a greater sense of comfort and safety in the residential treatment environment. Examples of these changes may include housing options that ensure transgender patients are housed with their gender identity and gender-specific housing wings or units within the treatment program.
Additionally, we ensure all members of the treatment community, including our medical and mental health providers, are trained to understand and address the potential treatment differences between specialized treatment and traditional drug or alcohol treatment programs. Knowing and adequately accounting for these differences can vastly improve treatment outcomes for our LGBTQ patients.
In recent years, several studies that focus on the impacts of drug and alcohol addiction on specific demographics have been conducted nationwide. More recently, a wider body of research has focused on addiction’s effects on the LGBTQ community. The outcomes of these studies indicate that people who identify as LGBTQ experience higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse when compared to heterosexuals.
Statistics on Addiction in the LGBTQ Community
it is not uncommon for people who identify as LGBTQ to experience higher levels of discrimination, stress, and other challenges that are specific to the community. Typically, these particular challenges (or circumstances) are not experienced by heterosexual individuals; however, they are considered a key reason why LGBTQ community members hesitate to seek addiction treatment help.
Consistently elevated stress levels and other demographic-specific challenges may increase one’s risk of developing a drug or alcohol addiction. People (regardless of sexual preference or gender identity) often turn to drugs or alcohol to manage and cope with physical and emotional pain. This can, and frequently does, lead to alcohol and drug dependency and addiction.
Statistics on addiction published after the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health suggest that drug and alcohol abuse rates and patterns are higher among LGBTQ adults and sexual minority youth. Data from the 2018 survey indicated that up to 40% of LGBTQ community members used marijuana. Additionally, 9% reported abusing prescription painkillers or heroin, and more than 12% reported struggles with alcohol addiction. This report shows a higher rate of substance abuse across all surveyed substances compared to heterosexual individuals from the same age groups who reported 10%, 4%, and 10% (marijuana, opioids and heroin, and alcohol), respectively.
Data from the same survey shows that LGBTQ adolescents and teens are not safe from drug and alcohol abuse challenges. According to data released after the same nationwide study, between 20 and 30% of LGBTQ youth (under age eighteen) have at least one substance use disorder. Again, when compared to heterosexual youth of the same age category who reported 9% SUD rates, it is clear that LGBTQ youth face an uphill batter when it comes to getting the help they need to address addiction risk.
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SoberMind Provides Safe LGBTQ Rehab Programs in
Southern California
Statistics on drug and alcohol treatment programs strongly show improved outcomes that lead to lasting recovery when someone can remain at rehab throughout their entire primary treatment program. The best way to ensure this occurs is to provide a safe, supportive, and comfortable environment throughout all stages of addiction treatment.
At SoberMind’s LGBTQ substance abuse treatment program, our providers understand the emotional, personal, and social challenges you may encounter as you take your first steps towards sobriety and recovery. Our medical and mental health providers are here to provide the guidance and comprehensive support you need to defeat drug and alcohol addiction.
It is essential to remember that each person’s challenges at every stage of addiction and recovery are unique to each person. The signs and symptoms one experiences when they are actively drinking or using and when they begin to detox and work through the stages of therapy are inevitably different than those of somebody else. Due to the unique nature of addiction, it is crucial to find a treatment program that works directly with each of their patients to develop a comprehensive, evidence-based program based on their holistic needs.
When you identify as LGBTQ, you must find a program with experience treating members of the LGBTQ community. Not all addiction programs are created equally, and not all offer specialized treatment care that focuses on providing a safe and welcoming treatment environment.
Let us show you how our Southern California rehab can help you achieve lasting sobriety and freedom from drug and alcohol addiction. Contact a member of our admissions team today to learn more about LGBTQ rehab in Southern California.
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