Maine Cancer Foundation has funded a one-year project to improve the health and behavioral care provided to Maine’s LGBTQ+ youth. In partnership with the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), OUT Maine will expand the network of informed healthcare and mental health providers serving LGBTQ+ youth in Maine. The resources and training will provide pediatric oncology providers, pediatricians, family physicians, and other child healthcare professionals who address cancer prevention with the resources and tools needed to provide affirming health care.
During the last two years, OUT Maine, in partnership with the Maine AAP, developed practice kits with a host of resources and clinical and non-clinical training with support from the Maine Health Access Foundation. Practice kit resources include a video and podcast of transgender youth experiences and best practices with recommended ways to improve health and mental health services. With support from Maine Cancer Foundation, this project will further expand the resources and training to reach providers who treat or address cancer prevention.
“The initial response from providers has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Sue Campbell, Executive Director of OUT Maine. “Positive youth interactions with pediatric oncology providers, providers who address cancer prevention, and other healthcare providers that support and integrate all aspects of identity-affirming care will have profound and long-lasting effects on the adults they will become.”
OUT Maine has an ambitious goal: to create more welcoming and affirming communities for Maine’s diverse queer youth in all of their intersectional identities by changing the very systems that serve them. For more information, please visit www.outmaine.org.
Maine Cancer Foundation is dedicated to reducing cancer incidence and mortality rates in Maine. All funds raised by the Foundation are used to benefit the people of Maine.
