How to Get to Where They Are: Notes From an Open Group With Unhoused LGBTQIA2S+ Youth

Mental health professionals aim to engage our clients with “accurate empathy”: a nonjudgmental understanding of each person’s starting point and experiences that is in tune with their perspective. This article explores the challenges and importance of developing this type of engagement in complex contexts, using the lens of group work with a disparate set of LGBTQIA2S+ young adults whose identities, backgrounds, and experiences differed from one another and from the facilitator. The author reflects on experiences from a grant-based position creating and running a trauma-informed support group in an emergency shelter for unhoused LGBTQIA2S+ young adults in a major U.S. city, including the impact of common issues in the field such as staff turnover, confusion about roles and needs, and support. The article describes lessons learned about the importance of language choice, self-reflection, and the need to confront and build on differences to create a shared process of support.