Coloradans Who Are LGBTQ+ Can Get Free Mental Health Tools Through a New App
Coloradans who are LGBTQ+ can now use a new app that has been in the works for years.
Creator Steven Haden showed Mekialaya White of CBS News Colorado how the whole health hub, called You: Flourish, works.
“It’s a social effect project of the nonprofit Envision: You. “Our main goal is to improve the LGBTQ+ community’s mental health and well-being,” he said.
“We began working on You: Flourish soon after the lockdown during the pandemic. “Research told us that there weren’t enough digital spaces for people to make real connections and that it was hard to find a mental health provider who gets it,” Haden said.
When You: Flourish comes out in Colorado, users will be able to use all of its features for free for up to a year.
The platform has three parts: first, it lets you search for and connect with mental health and healthcare professionals who specialize in helping LGBTQ+ people; second, it’s a wellness hub with resources designed to meet the specific needs of the LGBTQ+ community, all based on important social determinants of health; and third, it gives you the chance to make real connections with people who have similar identities and needs.
Vic Leao can now easily find care tools with just a touch of a screen. As LGBTQ+ people, they’ve had to deal with mental health issues for a long time.
“I have been diagnosed with a few things in my life.” “In that field, I don’t have any doctors or other people I would need to support that cause,” Leao said.
Leao says that they need resources that share their identity and living experience.
“Two to four times as many transgender people experience depression, anxiety, eating disorders, suicidality, and other problems as cisgender straight people. There are many reasons for this.” Imagine growing up in a world that doesn’t accept your gender identity and tells you you can’t play on a certain sports team or use the bathroom that matches your gender identity. That’s a lot of early stress. And that makes these differences in mental health even bigger.”
But Haden is working one click at a time to close those gaps.
“If we can be one part that gives people the support to know people care about you and want to see you excel that brings me goosebumps it brings tears to my eyes and just so much joy to know we are making a difference,” he added.
“It’s life-changing, life-altering to have this type of information be so readily available,” said Leao. “It has given me a bigger picture of what I need to do to take care of myself.” This app gives a generation more power. There seems to be a lot of room for support in the community right now, so I think it’s a good time to fill that place.
