Question:
Are there any LGBTQ+ clubs on campus? I know about GLOW and FemPhys from main campus but I don't know if there's anything specific to the School of Pharmacy. No offence to straight people but hanging out with kindred spirits hits differently. I think my mental health would benefit from having more LGBTQ+ friends, especially ones in the same program. Also, are there more gender & sexuality related topics to look forward to? We had a women's health lecture in IPFC2 but it took someone asking on the discussion board to even see a mention of trans patients. These topics tend to be glossed over, so I was wondering if the curriculum would address these.
Response 1:
Hello there,
I can completely understand and relate to wanting to hangout and connect with other people that are similar to you, and may relate to your personal experiences. Unfortunately, there is not a specific club at the School of Pharmacy that is focused on LGBT2Q+ folks, but there are main campus clubs like you have mentioned. As a part of RxPRN, we allow students to connect with peer mentors, which are other pharmacy students that may be able to relate to your situation or discuss LGBT2Q+ related topics (peer mentor bios will list this as an area they are comfortable talking about or you can request to meet a mentor based on those topics in the Google form here). I would also gladly connect if you would like to reach out to someone and discuss things further or just have a casual conversation!
In regard to support groups, depending on where you live, there may be various community/social groups to join that are based around connecting LGBT2Q+ folks and creating discussions. For myself, I was able to find some community groups by Googling groups near me - some of them meetup in person, have virtual events, or have Facebook or social media pages where you can chat with others.
Also, you bring up a really salient point about course material relating to gender, diversity and sexuality studies. This is something that our group may discuss with curriculum coordinators in the future to include more of these topics in pharmacy courses, so thank you for bringing up this point! As also stated in the response below, there are some upper year courses that go into more detail about various topics, but are usually individual lectures as opposed to whole courses. Pharm 378: Advanced Women’s Health Pharmacotherapeutics discusses not only women’s health, but gender-based health and has a lecture on transgender health. Pharm 376: Practicing Pharmacy with Diverse Populations would be a great course to sign-up for if it is offered in your 3rd/4th year. Here is a brief description of the course:
PHARM 376 - This course will provide students with tools to optimize patient care when working with diverse communities. Diversity will be defined in its broadest sense encompassing a discussion in how differences in ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability etc. impact patient care. Students will learn about the unique needs of different populations and through a combination of lectures and case studies learn how to sensitively and effectively work with a variety of patients.
In addition, there are courses you can take through Rainbow Health Ontario that go into detail on gender-based health including Trans health. https://learn.rainbowhealthontario.ca/
Again, if you would like to and feel comfortable, you can contact me directly at amandadavies1220@gmail.com
Warmly,
-Amanda :)
Response 2:
This is a great question! A lot of the main LGBTQ+ resources that pharmacy students use are directly from main campus (as you have mentioned). There is no specific club at the School of Pharmacy that focuses only on the LGBTQ+ population but I believe a few clubs discuss some healthcare topics that may relate to the LGBTQ+ group! Also, if you are interested in creating a club that focuses on this (which I think would be an amazing idea), you can always reach out to SOPhS and see if they can help get you started on the process :)
In terms of upcoming courses, there is an Advanced Self-Care elective that you can opt to take in 3rd year which has a topic specifically around LGBTQ+ healthcare and how pharmacists can be accessible resources for these patients. There is also another elective in 3rd/4th year that focuses on diverse groups in healthcare (ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental health). This would be the PHARM 376 course. As you and some of your classmates have done, it is always a good idea to bring these topics to the professor's attention if you have any specific questions!
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