Yale University will expand its LGBTQ+ mental health team this fall, in response to student needs.
Wait times for therapy at Yale decreased this year 鈥渄ue to an aggressive recruitment campaign,鈥� said Peter Steere, chief operating officer at Yale Health. The average wait time for an initial appointment with a mental health provider is now four days. Students told 黑料吃瓜网 Radio that they鈥檝e had to wait for months previously.
Still, activists say transgender students are falling through the gaps across 黑料吃瓜网 not because of a lack of resources, but because university staff often fail to connect students with resources outside their system.
On a page in a coloring book, a yellow moon hangs low over a leafy green stalk, sheltering cozily napping cats. Anyue Ai, a 21-year-old student at Yale University, filled in the colors.
鈥淎nyue in Chinese means [the] moon,鈥� Ai said. 鈥淲hen we think about the night sky, it feels like our companion when we're alone. Growing up, I've been bullied a lot and I didn't really have many friends. So I was, you know, very lonely. The moon was like a thing that kept me going.鈥�
Ai said she was 鈥渏ust not like [the] other guys,鈥� but was unable to tell her classmates what she really wanted them to know: 鈥淗ey, I'm actually a girl. It was not a hospitable environment for me; I grew up in a very segregated white town.鈥�
And she did not feel 鈥渟afe to come out at home鈥� to her traditional immigrant Han Chinese parents.
鈥淚 just had to be really repressed,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I was just waiting until I could get some freedom. And for me, that meant going to college.鈥�
鈥淪o I ended up at Yale,鈥� said Ai, whose chosen last name means 鈥渓ove鈥� in Chinese. The university鈥檚 progressive and supportive was the draw. But things took a dark turn when she sought hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and learned that it was not offered under Yale Health鈥檚 Basic Student Health Services.
Instead, HRT is provided through Yale Health鈥檚 Hospitalization/Specialty Care, which covers prescription medications as well as gender-affirming care provided by endocrinologists and surgeons at Yale Medicine.
鈥淲e connect students seeking gender-affirming care with a care manager at Yale Health who is experienced with gender-affirming clinical services,鈥� Steere said. 鈥淭he care manager will help students navigate their coverage and connect with specialists at Yale and affiliated providers approved through Yale Health.鈥�
That鈥檚 how Laurel Turner, a junior at Yale, underwent facial feminization surgery (FFS) and .
鈥淭hey completely covered both my FFS and bottom surgery, which was wonderful,鈥� she said.
But Ai said when she was unable to get the care she needed at Yale, she ended up in her room for months missing classes and falling into a deep depression.
鈥淸I] couldn't really tell what made me more suicidal; the process of being denied health care, or the itself,鈥� she said.
Ai said prior to her breakdown, she spent hours of her morning calling back and forth between different Yale administrators as well as providers across the state.
鈥淚t's tedious work,鈥� she said.
She could have got on Yale鈥檚 specialty insurance; her parents were able to afford it, she said, but they chose not to, knowing that she would then gain access to gender-affirming care.
The tragedy is that Ai鈥檚 solution was located just 17 minutes away in Hamden at , the state鈥檚 leading health care center for queer people by queer people, where she finally ended up in January this year.
Now, six months into HRT, Ai said her body 鈥渇eels like home for the first time.鈥�
In Hartford, Kamora Herrington is a cultural humility educator, and part of her work is to get trans students the resources they need in the community.
鈥淒ay one,鈥� Herrington lamented. 鈥淸If] someone had just said Anchor, she could have gotten right over. And this is where everyone from soup to nuts needs to know everything. And the gatekeepers need to pull all of their gatekeeping off. Because that's the only way it works.鈥�
黑料吃瓜网 has some of the in the country protecting trans rights. And the 黑料吃瓜网 Department of Social Services was one of the first Medicaid programs nationally to add a wide set of treatment and services for gender transition.
鈥淲e have wonderful rights, we've got wonderful protections, we've got wonderful things covered,鈥� Herrington said.
But the problem?
鈥淲e have lots of people in positions of power who don't share that information as freely as they should,鈥� Herrington said.
In the face of parental disapproval and insurance roadblocks, trans students often wait to get into universities to access gender-affirming care.
鈥淚 work with high school students who are experiencing problems, all of those access problems, [and I tell them] 鈥楲ook, we're just going to get you accepted to UConn,鈥� Herrington said. 鈥淥nce you go to UConn, you're going to get on the student plan, life is going to be great. So the UConn student plan is wonderful, if you know about it, and you know how to access it.鈥�
And once students get to universities, access comes down to the individuals who interface with trans students.
鈥淥ur state university system offers tremendous and beautiful supportive care to trans and gender variant students,鈥� said Herrington, who also advises Eastern 黑料吃瓜网 State University on trans care.
But it's critically important that universities have staff who know what gender-affirming care looks like, she said, and who connect students with resources in the community if the university doesn鈥檛 provide it, or if the student is struggling with financial barriers.
Institutions have been stepping up. In 黑料吃瓜网, 32 university campuses currently are in the , a nationally recognized indicator of institutional commitment to LGBTQ-inclusive policy, program and practice.
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