A support group designed to give LGBTQ+ students a safe space to connect with peers is new to Boston University’s campus this semester, courtesy of Boston University’s Behavioral Medicine department of Student Health Services.
The group meets Tuesday afternoons in the Behavioral Medicine Satellite Clinic. Students are welcome to begin attending the support sessions at any point if they contact Staff Clinician Ilana Licht through Patient Connect before the meeting, said Staff Clinician Rachel Oppenheimer. Participating students must attend a minimum of four meetings, but are welcome to attend more.
Oppenheimer, who runs the group, wrote in an email that the group was started with the hope that it would generate more support services for LGBT students around the university.
Faith Puleikis, the health and education coordinator for the Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Activism (CGSA), said the creation of the support group was something the CGSA and other LGBT support groups on campus had long been lobbying for.
“We’ve been pushing and one of our peers over at Student Health Services has been pushing to have this LGBT support group,” the College of Arts and Sciences sophomore said, adding that she was glad to see the project finally get off the ground.
Francesca Romano, a freshman in the College of General Studies, said that while she feels BU already has a diverse campus, creating this support group as part of BU’s mental health services shows the university’s priorities.
“It makes it more important that the faculty’s running it, because then it’s more serious,” Romano said. “It’s not just a bunch of kids getting together, it’s important to the actual university.”
An LGBT-specific support group is more beneficial than a regular support group, Puleikis said, because of its ability to provide a forum where people can meet others whose mental health issues have similar underlying causes, such as homophobic or transphobic discrimination.
“While going to a regular support group is great, a lot of the mental health problems that [LGBT individuals] face are unique to the community,” Puleikis said.
Alexander Payr, a student in the Metropolitan College graduating next year, said he thinks support groups that focus on specific populations are important for the student body because they connect individuals who understand each other’s experiences.
“You see the same ideas and you find friendships which are based on the same level,” Payr said.
Puleikis said she’d talked to several students who’d had difficulty accessing mental health services through BU, and that she thought it was important to make clear what services are offered and how students can reach them, especially for the LGBT community.
“The LGBT community has been long overlooked in health care,” Puleikis said.
Haley Sheehan, a junior in the School of Hospitality Administration, said she thinks the new support group doesn’t fill any gap of which she was aware at BU, but that she also thinks groups like it are important for the community.
“Every group needs someone to talk to, and I really hope that that outlet works for that group of people who might be needing a little bit more support,” Sheehan said.
Ally Goldsher, a freshman in the College of General Studies, said she thinks the group will “create a community where everyone can feel included.”
“I think BU’s pretty inclusive to everyone,” Goldsher said. “I think there’s a place for everyone.”
Ethan Liu, the public relations coordinator for the CGSA, said they think the support group shows BU’s willingness to try to help support and guide LGBT students, especially with regard to mental health.
“This support group is a good way to help BU to start being more inclusive and help to get more support for the LGBTIA+ community on campus,” Liu said. “It’s good that … BU is taking this action to go forward.”
Both Puleikis and Liu said that while the advent of the support group is good, it’s not a permanent solution for LGBT inclusivity at BU.
“It’s a start. Many things need to be done,” Liu said, noting the CGSA’s continuing work to increase the amount of gender-neutral housing and bathrooms on BU’s campus.
Crystal Williams, the associate provost for diversity and inclusion at BU, wrote in an email that it’s important for BU to support people in their entirety.
“Seeing that wholeness, honoring and supporting it, enhances our communities, our common project of learning together, and our ability to move successfully beyond BU into the wider world as effective, valued, and respected humans,” Williams wrote.
