Securing legislative funding to address homelessness can feel like a roller coaster. In Massachusetts, provider and peer activists have spent the last five years fighting for resources for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness, with ups and downs along the way.
Some things that happen in our lives have such a profound impact that you can see their tentacles reaching into every avenue of your life. For me, I can see how living poor as an adolescent, losing my mother to cancer, and meeting my husband at an early age has impacted how I approach the world today.
Then other things happen, and while you know they are significant, you can’t trace their impact. You are at a loss on how to interpret the pain and the grief, so you put it aside and move on. I lost my dad to addiction when I was 21 years old.
Throughout this week's webcast, Marc articulated the importance of understanding and integrating the experiences and needs of LGBTQ youth in the mental health system in several ways that grabbed my attention and gave me new ideas and perspectives.
