Therapist Lily Cunningham (they/them) received their master’s in education from Cleveland State University in 2013.
I refuse to practice as a licensed mental health professional in a state that outlaws ethical treatment; which is exactly what Gov. Mike DeWine did by asking the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to do.
In December 2022, I wrote a Dispatch guest column about the importance of providing gender-affirming care from the perspective of a therapist licensed in Ohio. Last year, I’ve decided to let my counseling license lapse.
DeWine spent the last four years since COVID-19 lockdown being praised for being a common-sense Republican, only to replace the former head of OMAS with his former chief-of-staff and tell her to write rules banning gender-affirming care.
This is a matter of life or death
Death by suicide and attempts to die by suicide are greater for transgender individualswhen they live in place that is inherently hostile to more than two genders.
This isn’t noted just the definition of gender dysphoria found in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, 5th Edition;” psychiatric research has verified for years that having acceptance of gender variance decreases risk of suicidal behaviors, thoughts, and actions. It also decreases anxiety, depression, and other diagnoses.