Jewish Family Services (JFS) is responding to the mental health needs of the Kansas City LGBTQ+ community with a new support group for queer youth and a peer-led support group for family members or caregivers of transgender or nonbinary children.
According to the Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 61% of LGBTQ+ youth in Kansas who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it. Unsupported, these youth can experience higher levels of depression, anxiety and suicide. According to the survey, 44% of Kansas LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide in the past year. In Missouri, 47% of LGBTQ+ youth considered suicide, with 20% of transgender and nonbinary youth making an attempt within the past year.
The two new groups include “A Transition for Everybody: A Peer-Led Support Group for Jewish Families or Caregivers of Trans and Nonbinary Children” which occurs monthly on the second Tuesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and meets next on Nov. 14. JFS Director of Mental Health Programs Sondra Wallace can be contacted for more information at .
“The Queer Youth Support Group” is a collaboration between Ga’Avah KC and JFS and happens every other Thursday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and meets next on Nov. 16. Julia Billquist, JFS therapist and group facilitator for the new JFS Queer Youth Support Group, can be contacted for more information at .
“As a therapist, I see the harm that our social system causes every day,” Billquist said. “As a queer kid, I struggled with dissociating and disconnecting because of this system. This group is a space for queer youth to feel safe and comfortable enough to be authentically themselves, to connect, and to learn to hold themselves and their peers with the compassion and care that the system they interface with is often not providing.”
Both groups meet at the Jewish Community Center at 5801 W. 115th Street, Overland Park, KS 66211. More information for both support groups can be found at jfskc.org.
“There wasn’t a place where parents – and especially parents who are part of the Jewish community – could get help while supporting their children going through this huge life changing experience of transitioning,” said the organizer of the peer-led support group, “A Transition for Everybody,” who wished to remain anonymous in order to protect the identity of their child. The group started meeting monthly last spring. “I had so many emotions that my friends couldn’t understand because they couldn’t relate. I needed to be able to talk to other caregivers going through this and ask the questions that no one else could answer.”
Bilquist and the organizer of “A Transition for Everybody” wanted to ensure that LGBTQ+ community and their families had a place to seek resources and support that they couldn’t find elsewhere in Kansas City.
“There are not enough spaces in our community where queer youth are invited to connect and share their experiences in a safe place,” Billquist said. “We are intentional about making this an affirming, non-judgmental and extra-kind space where we celebrate all identities and intersectionality.”
