3 - (SYM 32) Supporting Pride, Activism, Resiliency, and Community (SPARC): A Process Group for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth of Color

Background: Transgender and gender diverse youth who also identify as youth of color experiencing compounding stress related to their racial, ethnic, and gender identities. Gender minority stress and intersectionality theories posit that dominant social and institutional structures (e.g., white supremacy, cis-heteronormativity) create and sustain multiple intersecting oppressions for people of non-dominant identities. Thus, this case study describes a process group, Supporting Pride, Activism, Resiliency, and Community (SPARC), developed with an intersectional lens to support this population.  

Methods: SPARC was developed as a 5-week telemedicine group. SPARC curriculum employed activities to support participants in identifying and coping with race- and gender-related stressors. Additionally, the curriculum emphasized the role of social media content to understand exposure and experience with racism and transphobia. Group participants were selected from the first and last author’s existing clinical caseloads at the time of implementation. Group leaders elicited feedback after the final group session through an anonymous survey to assess acceptability and satisfaction.

Results: The group was co-led by the first and last authors. Participants included three transgender boys and two transgender girls ranging from 15 to 22 years old. Two participants identified as Black, one as Latinx, and two as biracial. The majority of participants attended at least three sessions. Three participants completed the postgroup survey.

Conclusions: Overall, participants reported satisfaction with the structure and content of SPARC. Participants noted that they would prefer the group to be in-person and to have more weekly sessions. SPARC curriculum and implications for future directions will be shared and discussed.