Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Middle Tennessee State University

Second Presenter's Institution

Middle Tennessee State University

Third Presenter's Institution

Middle Tennessee State University

Fourth Presenter's Institution

N/A

Fifth Presenter's Institution

N/A

Location

Sloane

Strand #1

Mental & Physical Health

Strand #2

Family & Community

Relevance

This proposal relates to two of the conference STRANDS. They are HOME: Family & Community and HEALTH: Mental & Physical Health. The proposed presentation is divided into three parts. The first part provides an overview of characteristics of a healthy family, as well as a definition of family, the purpose of families, and a discussion of family patterns. The second part provides an overview of issues that impact LGBTQ+ families as well as strengths of LBGTQ+ families. The third part of this presentation discusses the impact of parental mental health issues on parenting. Presented is information that can be used to help practitioners build healthy families.

Brief Program Description

Raising children to be healthy participating members of society is not an easy job. This presentation directly (1) defines characteristics of healthy families, (2) discusses strengths of LGBTQ+ families, and (3) provides strategies to parental mental health issues. This presentation helps attendees examine notions of family. The intended audience is anyone who work with families.

Summary

According to Pennington and Knight (2011), the motivation to become a parent is bound to “one’s sexual orientation” or one’s mental health (p. 60). The desire to experience the joy and the angst of parenting is universal. In this historical time, there are multiple ways to become a parent. However, knowing how to parent is a different issue. For practitioners working with families, it’s important to be able to describe characteristics of a healthy family and define a health family. For example, what functions does a family provide for the individual and society? Additionally, how do we view a family? That is, who defines what a family looks like? With nearly half a million American youth are in foster care needing attention, care, and placements, a major challenge for years has been understanding what is a healthy and/or an unhealthy family situations. In order to effectively meet the needs of the families we serve, more knowledge about family structure, functions, and dynamics is needed. This presentation will focus on providing an overview of healthy family characteristics, highlighting these characteristics in LGBTQ+ families. This presentation ends with a discussion of how to foster healthy family characteristics when the parent has a mental health diagnosis. In particular, this presentation will present a model to help with working in homes where a parent has a mental health issue. The intended audience is anyone who provides cares for and cares about families.

Evidence

Information for this presentation is a result of the authors’ work with families across four states for more than 35 years.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Turnage has provided has provided direct services to families while working with community mental health and physical health facilities. She has also provided workshops and published articles on adolescent development, mental health issues, and minority identity development.

Keyword Descriptors

Healthy Family, LBGTQ+ families, Family Mental Health

Presentation Year

2018

Start Date

3-6-2018 1:00 PM

End Date

3-6-2018 2:15 PM

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Mar 6th, 1:00 PM Mar 6th, 2:15 PM

Identifying and Fostering Health in Families

Sloane

Raising children to be healthy participating members of society is not an easy job. This presentation directly (1) defines characteristics of healthy families, (2) discusses strengths of LGBTQ+ families, and (3) provides strategies to parental mental health issues. This presentation helps attendees examine notions of family. The intended audience is anyone who work with families.