Originally published in the Napa Valley Register on November 30th, 2024.
The Napa mental health nonprofit Mentis is partnering with LGBTQ Connection to provide a new therapy program for LGBTQ youth in Napa County.
The program is called the Queer Trans AFFIRM Project or QTAP, and offers free individual and group talk therapy to people between the ages of 12 and 21 who may be coping with mental health issues surrounding their sexual orientation or identity.
LGBTQ Connection’s program director Heather “Coach” Bailie said that the new program, which received grant funding in July, and its partnership with Mentis was a natural next step to close the loop for support services the two groups can officer.
“Now we’re able to allow and offer robust clinical therapy with a therapist for their mental wellness,” Bailie said. “They’re also going to make friends and connections in those support groups.”
The program uses a cognitive group therapy model called AFFIRM, which was developed in Canada. The model weaves identity affirmation into cognitive-behavioral therapy by having clients develop a safe social network, link feelings to activities, explore the impact of thoughts, set goals and connect young people with tools to manage them independently.
Rubi Pelayo, assistant clinical manager of youth programs at Mentis, said that at its heart, the QTAP program exists to assist young LGBTQ people in finding support and navigating challenges.
“It’s really meant to help this population obtain coping skills and build community with other LGBTQ folks,” Pelayo said. “It’s really meant to help them navigate mental health stressors that come about as being part of the LGBTQ community.”
One example is helping clients manage unhelpful thoughts, Pelayo added. For instance, she said that if someone is feeling they are unsafe because of their sexual orientation, there are other, less stressful thoughts to have about the situation.
“It’s how we can think about a way to maybe modify that thought,” Pelayo said, “but with taking into consideration that a lot of these thoughts are coming from a really real place.”
Mentis’ youth mental health therapist Kailie Musgrove leads QTAP. The 25-year-old Napa native focused her studies on gender and sexuality in the context of mental health while working toward a master’s degree at CSU Northridge in the Los Angeles area.
“It was really amazing to be able to come back to Napa after finishing that program and be able to serve the community I grew up in (with) exactly what I’ve been studying for my academic career,” Musgrove said.
Musgrove leads individual therapy with six youths in the program, where she said she breaks down the functions of the brain for teenagers to help them understand why they feel the way they do.
Musgrove hopes that the program provides a safe space for youth, and above all hopes it makes its members feel seen.
“Even just existing and being able to be part of this program, I’ve seen that as something that’s been really meaningful to the youth I work with,” Musgrove said. “Because this community is very often made to (feel) invisible.”
Pelayo said QTAP is currently in the outreach phase of attempting to get more students into support, which hasn’t been easy.
“If we think about LGBTQ youth and just the population in general, they’re a very vulnerable group,” Pelayo said. “A lot of what we’ve learned is that relationship building is a really big component with this population.”
LGBTQ Connection has been a large part of that trust building. Bailie said that a lot of the group’s outreach work is embedded in local schools, and representatives from LGBTQ Connection can often be found on high school campuses during lunchtime at gay-straight alliance club meetings.
“We see the things that are happening on campus, and we’re hearing the stories,” Bailie said. “We have a really good beat on what’s happening on the floor, to measure where youth might be coming in, in terms of their mental stability or instability.”
As for spreading the word about the QTAP program, Bailie said organizers speak with partners such as social workers and teachers to let them know how important it can be for youth, particularly in Napa.
“We are still pretty rural, and I’d say many years behind other communities in terms of visibility and representation,” Bailie said. “That trickles down; it affects everybody at all layers.”
Mental health statistics from recent years paint a sobering picture for Napa’s LGBTQ youth. The California Healthy Kids Survey is given to students statewide and asks students anonymously about their general feelings on their schools’ social climate and safety.
According to survey results for Napa County, in the last few years 59% of transgender students in ninth grade had considered suicide. The survey also noted that 63% of ninth-grade students who don’t identify as heterosexual in Napa County have experienced chronic sadness.
Bailie said that she’s been hearing from youth that with recent events, such as the reelection of Donald Trump to the presidency, the internet has become an unsafe space for them.
“The climate online had shifted and when things really shift and target your most marginalized, our young trans youth and our trans youth of color, that might not have other support systems, that’s where things like suicide being a way out becomes an option,” she said. “A program like this is really trying to stop that, (to make clear) it’s not an option.”
QTAP is currently holding individual therapy sessions in its office at 780 Lincoln Ave. in Napa, a space LGBTQ Connection is sharing with VOICES Youth Center, through 2026. Bailie said backers are open to holding sessions elsewhere, and are working to start a QTAP session at Napa Valley College.
“We’re in this fun stage of development, (and) we’re throwing a lot of spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks,” Bailie said.
Musgrove of Mentis said that she’s working to get groups going in the new year and to start groups for parents as well.
Hopefully by then, she said, there will be enough youth to start programs for different developmental stages.
“There is a youth mental health crisis across the country right now,” Musgrove said. “It’s very present in youth minds, and it’s incredibly important to make sure that our community has those services.”