EMPWR-ing LGBTQ+ Youth

UCLA Health article
EMPWR-ing LGBTQ+ Youth

“We volunteered at the Pride fair last night and handed out a lot of swag at the UCLA Health booth,” says Dr. Natalia Ramos, pictured right, a child psychiatrist within the UCLA Department of Child Psychiatry. Liz Ollen, pictured left, a child psychology doctoral student adds, “We’re really excited that UCLA Health is part of Pride this year, and it was exciting to promote our new program last night.” Dr. Ramos explains, “We’re launching a new program called EMPWR, and the program focuses on delivering evidence-based therapeutic interventions to LGBTQ+ children and young adults. The idea is that we need to do a better job as a profession of addressing different mental health concerns in these populations.” Nodding, Liz says, “We also want to be a training clinic to help the next generation of mental health professionals work with LGBTQ+ youth and provide affirmative and sensitive mental health care.”