Improving LGBT+ Care in Addiction Treatment

Date of Recording: July 2020

LGBT+ populations are at a higher risk for developing opioid use disorder, are more likely to avoid or delay treatment, and face barriers to success once in treatment due a lack of synergy with their providers. This workshop aims to share best practices for the treatment of LGBT+ individuals, including the development of cultural competency and techniques for affirming strong therapeutic alliances resulting in positive treatment outcomes. The end goal is to provide concrete and actionable steps clinicians, medical providers, and administrators can implement in their own treatment environments.

Learning Objectives: 

• Identify the need for LGBT+ cultural competency in your addiction treatment clinic.
• Assess how improved cultural competency and therapeutic alliance can result in improved clinical outcomes for LGBT+ individuals.
• Identify actionable, evidence-based, and cost-effective steps to improve comprehensive services for LGBT+ individuals.
• Demonstrate person-centered interventions that treatment centers can implement to engage LGBT+ individuals.

Presenter Information: 

Corey Love, LMHC, an intake coordinator at Greenwich House Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program, is a clinician and educator having co-founded the Clinical Internship program. He attended Hunter College - CUNY in New York City where he is now an active member of the faculty. His professional experience includes research in implementing person-centered motivational interviewing techniques in counseling LGBT+ individuals to combat substance use disorder, developing concrete intake techniques that are inclusive of patients' sexuality and gender expression, and counselor education.

Sara Lorenz Taki, MD, is medical director of Greenwich House Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program in New York City. Dr. Taki is board certified in addiction medicine and internal medicine and serves on the clinical advisory panel for Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS). She has over ten years' experience in the treatment of substance use disorders. Dr. Taki’s professional interests include the prevention and treatment of hepatitis C and HIV in opioid treatment programs, improving care for LGBT+ patients with substance use disorders, and developing educational opportunities for health professional students in the field of addiction medicine.