Q&A
Council Member Stevens inquires about clinician accountability in LGBTQ+ youth care
1:48:02
·
90 sec
Council Member Althea V. Stevens asks about issues with clinicians and boundaries with young people, seeking recommendations for safeguards. Erin Beth Harrist from the Legal Aid Society responds, emphasizing the need for accountability and updating outdated policies.
- Harrist highlights that the current policy from 2012 is outdated and lacks accountability provisions for clinician behavior.
- Stevens acknowledges the importance of addressing potential harm from improperly trained clinicians.
- The discussion touches on the need for policy updates and accountability measures for clinicians working with LGBTQ+ youth.
Althea V. Stevens
1:48:02
Oh, I I have a question.
Nadia Swanson
1:48:05
Oh.
Althea V. Stevens
1:48:06
I just have one quick question because you have mentioned the clinicians, and sometimes they're also a part of some of the issues with, like, you know, talking about boundaries with young people.
1:48:18
Could you talk a little bit about a little bit more about that?
1:48:21
And then, also, is there any recommendations around, like, what are some things you think we can do to put in place to kinda safeguard that as well.
Erin Beth Harrist
1:48:28
Thank you so much for that question.
1:48:29
I think it really comes down to accountability.
1:48:32
If you look at the policy, 1, it's outdated.
1:48:35
Best practices for working with gender expansive people have changed since 2012, and the policy has taken a very long time to change.
1:48:43
But there's not a lot of accountability provisions for if a clinician is behaving in this way, and I think those need to be added into the next draft of the policy, which my eyes on the last draft policy, which was over a year ago, that was not in there.
1:48:56
So that's something that I would greatly recommend that that changes.
Althea V. Stevens
1:49:00
Yeah.
1:49:01
No.
1:49:01
I just think it's important because sometimes we do miss those pieces that, like, a clinician is part of this process, and and they do do can do some harm if they're not trained properly or things are not pinned, please.
1:49:11
I would definitely love to talk more about that with you offline.
1:49:15
And, also, survival benefits, it is very important.
1:49:18
I am on it.
1:49:19
We're gonna be having not a whole hearing on, but I'm foster care, and we'll be spending a lot of time talking about survival benefits stuff.
1:49:25
So don't wanna throw a curveball at them today since they were so well behaved.
1:49:28
I try to be nice to ACS.
1:49:30
I don't wanna throw them a curveball.
