Date: November 16, 2023
Location: TBD

LGBTQ Utahns and their family members have always faced unique challenges (for example, over the past decade Utah’s youth suicide rate has been growing faster than the national average), and these challenges have grown in recent years due to the isolating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the political climate around LGBTQ health care. For these reasons, the Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition has called for significant investment in evidence-based strategies for LGBTQ health promotion that specifically target social connectedness and belonging across multiple contexts (family, school, community).

To that end, we would like to invite all interested faculty and research admin. to attend a 2-hour in-person town hall to kick-off the Utah Network for LGBTQ Thriving. This working group will explore community-engaged approaches to conduct and disseminate high-impact, interdisciplinary research on the thriving of LGBTQ Utahns and their family members.  A core premise of this initiative is that “thriving” is defined as more than simply the absence of physical and mental health problems – it involves positive, growth-promoting engagement with self, family, and community.  Accordingly, we hope to foster high-impact collaborations between scholars specializing in the social and medical sciences with scholars that study the role of creative expression (writing, performing, community-based art) in fostering a sense of belonging in marginalized groups.

This town hall will take place from 1:00 – 3:00pm (MST) on Thursday, November 16, 2023. Location details will be provided when available. The purpose of this town hall is to promote the Network and to ensure that we are actively meeting the areas of need for various populations and for researchers who wish to collaborate and develop research action in this space.

Participating individuals will have an opportunity to present 2-slide (maximum) lightning talks of their current research/ideas and to collectively brainstorm ideas for collaborative, cross-campus work and/or aims for new research endeavors. Lightning talks will be limited to 1-2 minutes per person. Space for lightning talks is limited.

Please RSVP for this in-person retreat by Wednesday, November 1, 2023. RSVP is required to ensure a room with adequate seating can be arranged AND to ensure participants who want to present a lightning talk can be scheduled. RSVPs are accepted HERE.

Questions can be directed to vprgrants@utah.edu. Please see our flyer for more details.