Development of LGBTQ+ support program and guidelines for mental health providers

The important work of key LGBTQ+ groups is enhancing awareness of the challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community. Professor Makiko Kasai, Naruto University of Education, is a pioneer of LGBTQ+ focused counselling practice and counsellor training in Japan. She has written two books providing critical advice on LGBTQ+ issues to educators and counsellors and is transforming how counsellors and educators in Japan view their clients and students. Kasai is currently developing an LGBTQ+ support programme and guidelines for healthcare providers with a view to train counsellors and teachers to be LGBTQ+ sensitive and affirming and, in doing so, create a school environment where children who are struggling with sexuality and gender identity can feel safe. Kasai has developed a novel concept of inter-minority empathy that makes it possible to connect various minorities and resolve conflicts between minorities. The idea is that by improving their familiarity of individuals from sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) and other minority groups, people can find connections and similarities with them and better understand other people's experiences and feelings. She found that those who had experienced aggression and negative attitudes were more likely to feel empathy for other minorities who also encountered similar discrimination. Kasai has developed the minority perception scale, which is designed to measure the degree to which people perceive themselves as a minority, and the inter-minority empathy scale, which is designed to measure the degree to which people aware of their own minority status and motivate to support other minorities. Participants were surveyed to discover if they identified with any of 19 demographic categories and found a positive relationship between positive experiences as a minority and inter-minority empathy.