Why is there a need for specialized treatment for the LGBTQ community?

 Entering into treatment for addiction can make a person feel very vulnerable. Attending a gay-friendly or LGBTQ-friendly inpatient drug rehabilitation center in Maryland will give you an atmosphere of honesty and mutual respect. This will help you be open about every aspect of your identity. Having to hide your sexual orientation can impede an individual’s progress in an inpatient drug rehab center. Recovering in a setting that reinforces your self-respect, will help you be proud of who you are, reinforcing who you can become.

Most programs will say they offer an LGBTQ program but in reality, there are actually very few specific drug rehab centers that are LGBT and gay-friendly in Maryland. Transgender people have an especially hard time finding non-biased discrimination-free treatment for their addictions. It can be harder for an LGBTQ person to overcome addiction in a setting that is not specifically set up for handling these unique challenges. It is better to enroll in an inclusive gay-friendly drug rehab center in Maryland to ensure that your needs are handled properly. This will ensure a positive outcome in treatment. Specialized drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers for LGBTQIA+ identifying people will have more staff who are experienced in handling the complex dynamics akin to sexual expression, and sexual orientation accompanied issues. A conventional drug treatment facility in Maryland will be unfamiliar or at the very least, uncomfortable with handling these types of challenges. 

Most treatment providers will offer a long-term program of at least 90 days to ensure that all issues are handled before leaving the treatment facility for drug addiction. People who are suffering from the grips of addiction have a better chance for long-lasting recovery in a setting that is longer than the average 28-day program for addiction. Recovery experts have long stated that the length of the program has without a doubt, a significant effect on the recovery rate of the clients.

LGBT-inclusive drug and alcohol treatment centers will often have separate housing for gay and LGBT individuals. Residential treatment programs are taxed with another particular challenge in offering housing to a person’s self-identified gender. Conventional treatment centers may force the individual to room with and as their birth gender. Forcing a transgender client to co-habitat with their birth gender can put an individual in the same situation that may have led to drug or alcohol abuse in the first place. For transgender clients, it is very important to make sure that they are given respect and a unified understanding of their identity. This will lay the groundwork for their paths to recovery. There will be separate groups that deal with the specific concerns that only LGBTQ individuals seeking help from drugs and alcohol deal with. Individual therapists who are gay, lesbian, or transgender themselves will have specialized treatment programs that include specific topics that are synonymous with the Gay and LGBTQIA+ community which include some of the topics listed below.

All of these issues and more should be handled while in treatment. 
*Discrimination handling, public discrimination
*Coming out, Peer ridicule, exclusion from social groups
*Family counseling, job loss, loss of child custody, rejection by a spiritual community
*Acceptance of self
*Violence based on sexual orientation or gender identification and how to cope

Separate group therapy sessions with only LGBTQ peers and counselors allow people to open up in a safe and non-judgmental environment. Specialized group therapy with people who share similar life experiences and challenges will help LGBTQ individuals feel they can be fully involved in the group’s healing process. Being able to fully engage in group therapy will help the individual feel comfortable about sharing their life experiences and tragedies.

Family and spousal therapy sessions have another dynamic that LGBTQIA+ inclusive drug rehabilitation centers in Maryland are ready to handle. Addressing the complex relationships that accompany the LGBTQ community can be challenging for a conventional drug and alcohol treatment center to understand, let alone help handle. Traditional marriage counseling and family therapy usually do not work for the gay, lesbian, and transgender community. The program will not assume that you are heterosexual and will encourage you to identify with your chosen gender if you are transgender. The materials will have same-sex couples and gender-neutral checkboxes for marital status. You will be able to discuss your relationship issues and issues related to your own sexuality using the principles of gay affirmative practice. LGBTQ-friendly drug rehabs in Maryland will encourage you to fully open up about your sexual orientation (if you are ready) and relationship dynamics. Being able, to be honest, and open in a non-judgmental setting will allow you to feel comfortable and at ease while you are in treatment for addiction issues. This helps the counselors understand your unique situation, relationship dynamics, habits, and pitfalls and will also help them in handling the underlying issues that need to be taken care of while enrolled in a Gay-Friendly inpatient treatment center for LGBTQ people in Maryland.

Addiction rates for the LGBTQ community according to the most recent study conducted in 2016, have included sexual orientation, and sexual identity in their survey of adults. This most recent data collection has found that almost a third of the LGBTQ population (30%) is addicted to drugs or alcohol. This is among the highest number of affected people in the nation. Heterosexuals are around 10% addicted rates as of 2016.

LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Outpatient Therapy in Maryland

Therapy and outpatient treatment for addictions is the right solution for some people suffering from addiction to drugs or alcohol. Therapists that specialize in treating LGBT and gay clients can offer many services to LGBTQ communities. Working with an outpatient program or a private therapist is often the only option for specialized treatment options in certain areas throughout the state.

Free Drug Rehabs in Maryland that Accept LGBTQ Clients

Most free rehab programs that offer treatment programs for addiction in Maryland will service gay, lesbian, and transgender clients. The programs that they offer, will in most cases be the same program that the general population uses in their recovery. Due to funding constraints in Maryland, delivering a separate program is often not cost-effective for the center.

How We Can Help

Our addiction specialists are here for those seeking treatment for their addictions to drugs or alcohol in gay-friendly drug rehab. There are programs throughout the United States that offer treatment and counseling for those seeking help in their early recovery from drugs and alcohol. Addiction No More’s counselors are waiting to take your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our intake counselors can answer any questions that you might have. For help in locating a rehab center for addiction please call us today. This is a confidential and private call. We are here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call us any time.

Below we have listed some of the group meetings that are gay and LGBTQ friendly. We offer this list to help those who are looking for free, gay-friendly groups for their addiction and have nowhere to turn for help. Addiction No More offers these groups as a free service to the ongoing aftercare that is much needed in the LGBTQ community. This is not a complete list of LGBT and non-binary support groups in Maryland and is subject to change as new meetings start and old ones fade away. Please give us a call or email us to have your meeting put on the list of resources for transgender individuals looking for support and addiction help. For help finding the right LGBTQ-friendly drug rehabilitation center in Maryland call us now. Addiction No More is an Addiction Treatment Center locator service. For immediate service, please call one of our counselors 24/7.

1-800-513-5423

LGBTQ-specific Support Groups and Therapy Meetings in Maryland

Talbot Springs LGBTQ addiction help and meetings in Colombia Maryland.
This is an LGBTQ addiction and support meeting in an open discussion format.
This is a Wednesday group at 6:00 pm, held weekly for Gay lesbian trans, and gender non-conforming people looking to overcome addiction and find support.
9650 Basket Ring Rd
Colombia, Maine 21045

Positively Sober-Sunday
This group is for help with addiction to drugs or alcohol in a safe and caring environment specifically servicing the LGBTQ communities. This is an open group for gays lesbians, transgender gender non-conforming and gender variant people looking for help in aftercare for addiction to drugs or alcohol in Baltimore Maryland.
The meeting is held on Sundays at 6:00 pm
Note: This meeting is not handicap accessible, Enter on W Read St
811 Cathedral st
Baltimore, Maryland 21201

Green Group
LGBTQ addiction and general support group at the Waxter Center in Baltimore Maryland.
This is a closed discussion group for those struggling with addiction.
The Waxter Center, go to the 3rd floor for this meeting on Saturdays at 6:30 pm
1000 cathedral st
Baltimore, Maryland 21201

GALAA Group
GALAA Group meets every Friday for a closed LGBTQ addiction support meeting at 7:00 pm
Group is held at the Mt Washington Methodist Church
5800 Cottingworth Ave
Baltimore, Maryland 21209

Silver Spring Read and Speak
This is a group that meets on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm for an open discussion and addiction help group in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Christ congressional church
9525 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, Maryland 20109

Live and Let Live LGBTQIA group for addiction in Annapolis Maryland
This is an open discussion group for gays, lesbians, transgender gender non-conforming, and non-binary people seeking support for their ongoing battles with addiction to drugs or alcohol.
Live and Let Live meets on Tuesdays at St Anne’s Parrish Hall in Annapolis Maine
199 Duke of Gloucester St
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Montrose Group
This group meets at Faith United Methodist Church every Tuesday and is an open-focused discussion group for LGBTQ-identifying people in Rockville Maryland.
Faith United Methodist Church
6810 Montrose Rd
Rockville, Maryland 20852

Transgender non-binary and gender Non-conforming specific groups in Maryland

Trans Unity Support Group in Maryland
This is an open group and welcoming to everyone. This includes people who identify as transgender, transsexual, gender-queer, cross-dressers, non-transitioners, de-transitioners, re-transitioners, a gender, bi-gender, pan-gender, or any other identity under the trans* umbrella
This is a biweekly meeting on the 1st and 3rd Sundays every month from 2:00-4:00 pm.
Cedar Lane Unitarian Church Universalist Church
9601 Cedar Lane
Bethesda, Maryland

PFLAG Bethesda /Cedar Lane Trans Family Meeting in Maryland
This is a closed meeting at an undisclosed location for the anonymity and safety of the group members.
Please contact Debbie Strauss for more information about this trans group for families strauss123@verizon.net

Transgender and Non-binary community support groups at the Fredric Center
This is a free meeting at the Fredric Center for all transgender and gender non-binary adults 18 and over. This is an issue-driven support group in an open discussion format. Discussing issues that are specific to the trans-non-binary and gender non-conforming adults. This group is open to significant others.
Grace UCC (not a church group),
25 E 2nd St,
Frederick, Maryland
Please contact the center for interviews and meeting times and locations trans@thefrederickcenter.org

Sources
LGBT Specific Mental Health and Rehabs
LGBTQIA+ People and Substance Use
LGBT+ Behavioral Health 
Transgender Healthcare
Erik Epp – Content Author