State of Mind: Sharing Resources and Support for Northeast Wisconsin's LGBTQ+ community

Date and Time for this Past Event

• Saturday, Jun 24, 2023  11am - 12pm

Location

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Details

June is Pride Month, and it comes at a time when anxiety, depression and suicide rates have skyrocketed for Wisconsin’s LGBTQ+ community. At Lion’s Mouth Bookstore on Saturday, June 24, Dr. Jesús Gregorio Smith of Lawrence University and Kathleen Schiltz of Prevea Health will join USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin mental health reporter Natalie Eilbert for a discussion on recent emotional and psychological challenges, resources, and ways to find resilience in troubling times.
About the panelists:

Kathleen Schiltz, She/Her/Hers
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Kathleen graduated from Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, WA in 2003 with a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy. She has worked in a variety of settings including outpatient therapy, crisis response, juvenile probation, EAP, college and university counseling centers, private practice and behavioral health care. As an LGBTQ identified individual, she is dedicated to her advocacy and service work. Her continuing education has focused on LGBTQ-specific training and education for individuals, couples and families. This includes participating in many anti-racism trainings and paying close attention to how identities within us intersect and inform our views, values, choices and relationships. She has conducted trainings on serving the LGBTQ community, participated in the transgender consult team at Oregon State University, and run support groups for LGBTQIAP+ individuals at Oregon State University and Lawrence University. As a Prevea provider, Kathleen supports the LGBTQ Affirming Care model of practice which affirms LGBTQ identities and approaches LGBTQ populations with acceptance and validation to lessen the potential and impact of discrimination in their health care. She leads a consultation group for Prevea Behavioral Care providers who see LGBTQ patients as well as provides LGBTQ Affirming Care trainings available through Prevea University.

Jesús Gregorio Smith, Ph.D., He/Him/His
Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies, Lawrence University
Jesús Gregorio Smith is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies and an Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) Andrew W. Mellon Fellow. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 2017 from Texas A&M University where he studied the intersections of systemic racism, masculinity, and sexuality and how they influence mental and sexual health. He has published 25 various research pieces, including 14 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in such venues as Archives of Sexual Behavior, Aids & Behavior, and Issues in Race & Society. Jesús coedited a collection of essays through Lexington Books titled Home and Community for Queer Men of Color: The Intersection of Race and Sexuality. Currently, he has a book contract with NYU Press for his first sole authored manuscript.

Natalie Eilbert, She/Her/Hers, is the statewide mental health reporter for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Her coverage of mental health and the health care system has appeared in Green Bay Press-Gazette, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and USA TODAY. Her career began as a local government watchdog reporter with Green Bay Press-Gazette, where she won first prize in investigative reporting from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for her coverage of a lawmaker referred for felony child abuse charges. She graduated with a journalism degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied health, environmental and science reporting.