New Data on How the 2024 Election Has Affected LGBTQ Utahns' Mental Health
Presenter: Lisa Diamond, PhD
Date: September 22, 2026 | 2:00 PM MST
Format: Live, interactive synchronous webinar | 1 hour
Content Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Clinical Mental Health Providers
CE Credits: 1 continuing education credit
Course Description
The 2024 election has had profound and measurable effects on the mental health and daily lives of LGBTQ individuals and their families — and clinicians are on the front lines of supporting people still struggling to adjust to a changed and newly hostile world. This one-hour live training presents brand new data from a national survey assessing how LGBTQ individuals and their family members have been affected by the upheaval of the 2024 election, offering clinicians timely, evidence-based insight into what their clients may be experiencing and what actually helps.
Drawing from survey findings that assessed changes in income, employment, housing, access to healthcare, social life, and mental health — including depression, anxiety, PTSD, hypervigilance, compulsive behaviors, and coping strategies — Dr. Diamond will present both national and Utah-specific findings with a focus on clinical relevance. The data reveal that most participants, especially trans and nonbinary young people, perceive their lives and health as worse off since the election. But the findings also offer meaningful good news: social support and social safety show pronounced protective effects, pointing toward concrete clinical strategies for supporting resilience and recovery.
This training is grounded in the core social work values of dignity and worth, the importance of human relationships, and a commitment to social justice — affirming that clinically informed, data-driven advocacy for LGBTQ clients is both an ethical obligation and an urgent professional imperative.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this training, attendees will be able to:
Describe current research findings on how the 2024 election has affected the health and daily lives of LGBTQ individuals and their families, including both national and Utah-specific data.
Identify the types of social relationships that demonstrate the strongest protective effects for LGBTQ individuals experiencing election-related stress, discrimination, and loss of safety.
Apply these findings in clinical practice by evaluating clients' access to protective social ties and implementing strategies to support LGBTQ individuals and family members navigating a changed and challenging social and political environment.
Cultural Sensitivity
This training explicitly addresses the influence of culture, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and political context on the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTQ individuals and their families. Participants are invited to examine their own unconscious biases related to gender and sexual diversity, and to consider how implicit assumptions and political neutrality may affect clinical decision-making and therapeutic engagement with LGBTQ clients. The training recognizes that experiences of election-related harm are not uniform — that trans and nonbinary individuals, young people, and those with intersecting marginalized identities face disproportionate and compounding impacts. By centering lived experience and presenting data that reflects diverse populations, the training supports culturally humble, affirming practice and equips clinicians to respond with greater accuracy, sensitivity, and urgency to the needs of LGBTQ clients and their families in the current moment.
Course Content
This training presents brand new survey data on the mental health and daily life impacts of the 2024 election on LGBTQ individuals and their families through engaging lecture and facilitated discussion led by Dr. Lisa Diamond. Drawing from a national study assessing changes across domains including income, employment, housing, healthcare access, social life, and mental health symptoms — with particular attention to depression, anxiety, PTSD, hypervigilance, compulsive behaviors, and coping strategies — the session walks participants through both national and Utah-specific findings in accessible, clinician-friendly language. Special attention is given to the experiences of trans and nonbinary young people, and to the protective role of social support and social safety. Interactive Q&A provides opportunities for participants to connect the data to their own clinical experiences and explore practical implications for supporting LGBTQ clients and their family members navigating ongoing political and social upheaval.
Relevance
Mental health clinicians working with LGBTQ individuals and their families are encountering the real-world consequences of political hostility in their offices every day — in the form of heightened anxiety, hypervigilance, grief, withdrawal, and disrupted access to care. Yet many clinicians feel underprepared to name, contextualize, and respond to these experiences with both clinical skill and political clarity. This training directly addresses that gap by providing timely, evidence-based data on how the 2024 election has affected LGBTQ health and wellbeing, and by identifying what the research says actually helps. By centering social safety and protective social relationships as key clinical targets, the training equips social workers, counselors, psychologists, and marriage and family therapists with concrete, actionable strategies for supporting some of the most vulnerable clients in their caseloads right now. This aligns directly with the profession's commitments to social justice, cultural competence, and evidence-informed practice — and with the ethical imperative to meet clients where they are in a rapidly changing world.
Limitations, Risks, & Benefits
This online training presents findings from a newly conducted survey and is not intended to be comprehensive; clinicians seeking more advanced knowledge are encouraged to pursue additional training and engage with the emerging literature in this area. As newly collected data, findings reflect the state of the research at the time of this presentation and will continue to be refined as additional studies emerge. Participants may experience emotional responses or have existing assumptions challenged when engaging with sensitive material related to political harm, discrimination, and LGBTQ mental health; however, no significant risks are anticipated. Benefits include increased awareness of the specific mental health impacts of the 2024 election on LGBTQ populations, greater clinical confidence in assessing and addressing election-related stress and trauma, and practical strategies for supporting protective social connections in this population.
About the Presenter
Lisa Diamond, PhD, is a professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Utah, where she has worked since 1999. Her research focuses on mental health among LGBTQ+ populations, sexual and gender identity across the life course, sexual and gender fluidity, and childhood and adolescent trauma exposure — including religious trauma — among LGBTQ+ individuals. Dr. Diamond collaborates frequently with clinicians and brings a research-informed perspective that emphasizes the critical role of social safety and unconditional belonging on the health of marginalized populations.
Course Details
Delivery method: Live interactive webinar via the Institute learning platform
Course interactivity: Interactive — participants will engage in facilitated discussion and Q&A
Posttest/quiz: Because this is a live interactive course, a standard posttest is not required. Participation will be monitored throughout the session.
Certificate issuance: Certificates of credit will be issued immediately after course completion to participants who attend the full session and complete the course evaluation.
Contact for questions: institute@thehealinggroup.com
Accessibility accommodations: To request accessibility accommodations, please contact institute@thehealinggroup.com prior to the event. We are committed to making our trainings accessible to all participants.
ASWB ACE Statement:
The Healing Group Institute, provider number 2716, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 3/31/26 – 3/31/27. Social workers completing this course receive 1 continuing education credit.