Behavioral Health & Recovery Services Blog

On Saturday, June 14^th, the Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Office of Diversity and Equity’s Pride Initiative hosted their 13^th annual Pride event for Pride month. At this event, the Storytelling Photovoice program hosted their first “Photovoice Pop-Up” to celebrate Pride month. The Pop-Up was inspired by San Mateo County Office of Epidemiology and Evaluation’s (OEE) recent study on LGBTQ+ Health. The study found that the LGBTQ+ community is one to experience the biggest health and social disparities . According to their findings, the 29.4% of the SMC LGBTQ+ community has experienced difficulty getting to see a physician in the past year. In addition, 53.9% of the SMC LGBTQ+ community would not know where to access treatment for drug related problems if needed (OEE). The study also found that 56.6% of the LGBTQ+ community has experienced symptoms of depression in the last 2 years. Overall, the OEE’s study concluded that, “Historically, LGBTQ+ individuals have experienced high levels of discrimination, stigma, and barriers to competent health care, which are still impacting the health of this community today.”  

In an effort to address the behavioral health barriers, equity, and stigma experienced by the SMC LGBTQ+ groups, this Pride Photovoice activity encouraged all Pride event attendees and the larger LGBTQ+ community to answer the questions “What does LGBTQ+ wellness mean to you?” and/or “Celebrating Pride is important because…”. Participants could simply write their responses to these questions, or they could pair their response with a corresponding polaroid picture they took at the event. This Pride Photovoice Pop-Up provided participants an outlet to amplify behavioral needs, while learning about BHRS Pride services that are aligned with the LGBTQ+ community. In sharing one’s story, LGBTQ+ community and all Pride attendees had the opportunity to advocate and amplify LGBTQ+ representations it relates to behavioral health needs, destigmatizing one’s behavioral health condition, all while promoting self-affirmation and empowerment during Pride month and beyond. When a participant finished their Photovoice, they had the chance to hang their final project at our booth for other viewers to see, ultimately inspiring and encouraging other Pride attendees to participate in the Photovoice Pop-Up booth. When attendees left the event, they had the chance to take home their final photovoice to keep, or they donated their final Photovoice to the Photovoice program for other clients to see at our office in Belmont.  

Overall, this Pop-Up was a success in amplifying the inequities endured by the LGBTQ+ community. The more that people participated and hung their photovoices, the more that other attendees were drawn to the booth and wanted to participate themselves. Unlike our usual Photovoice, we had a lot of participation from children/youth and their parents. It was immensely impactful to see younger generations share their answers to these very important framing questions. We are thankful to everyone who came to our pop-up, and we look forward to implementing this type of Photovoice activity within other Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Office of Diversity and Equity events.  

To see more photovoices from this pop-up, visit our ODE Storytelling webpage. If you are interested in partaking in a full 4-part Photovoice session, please contact our Storytelling Program Coordinator, Nicoletta Kelleher at nkelleher@smcgov.org.