Building Equity in Los Angeles County
Since fall of 2020, Still Bisexual President Nicole Kristal has Co-Chaired the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s LGBTQIA2-S Underserved Cultural Community (UsCC). Aside from leading the monthly meeting with stakeholders from across Los Angeles County, Kristal and her Co-Chair guide the group in the capacity-building project selection process to raise awareness countywide about the experiences of LGBTQIA2-S Angelenos and their unique mental health needs.
Kristal and members of the UsCC advised on the UCLA Prevention Center for Excellence’s competency training, “Providing Quality Services to LGBTQ People: An Introduction for Staff,” ensuring the videos were inclusive of bisexual, pansexual, asexual, Two-Spirit, and intersex identities.
Kristal and the UsCC also noted that the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health needed to develop its own LGBTQIA2-S competency videos separate of large institutions and in conversation with paid grassroots community members of the LGBTQIA2-S community. In 2021, the Department of Mental Health made a commitment to make these LGBTQIA2-S competency videos with those stakeholders in mind.
