By Brandon McKinley
In a recently published article, faculty and staff in the UF Center for Arts in Medicine and UF College of Education present best practices for utilizing theatrical arts to reduce social isolation and improve health outcomes for LGBTQ+ youth.
Jeffrey Pufahl, research assistant professor at the Center for Arts in Medicine, emphasizes that LGBTQ+ communities face a lot of barriers and discrimination in society.
“These barriers lead to health outcomes that include increased anxiety, increased depression, and, especially for youth, increased suicidality,” he says.
In a recent report by the Trevor Project the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning young people 42 percent of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.