Lynda Spann has been talking about the importance of mental health and how important it is to have a healthy relationship for over 20 years, and she isn’t stopping any time soon.
The recent uproar regarding Simone Biles’ decision to back out of competing in the Tokyo Olympics has the entire world discussing mental health and the importance (or, for some, unimportance) of taking care of ourselves mentally and emotionally in tandem with our physical health. Imagine being able to not only identify your mental health concerns but being able to work through them without judgment or stigma and then sharing that experience with your partner. For more than two decades, Dr. Spann of the Lesbian Couples Institute has guided lesbian couples back to love through a journey of natural discovery and transparent communication. She’s helped couples on the verge of divorce open up to and learn to love again through self-acceptance and honest communication with their partner.
According to the most recent Gallup poll, 18 million Americans identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Of those surveyed, 39% reported having a mental illness in the past year. And according to The Trevor Project’s most recent survey findings, 42% of LGBTQ youth ‘seriously considered’ attempting suicide based on almost 35,000 LGBTQ identifying individuals polled between October 12 and December 31, 2020. In April of this year, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced that “2021 is slated to become the worst year [since 2015] for LGBTQ State Legislative Attacks as [an] Unprecedented number of States [are] poised to enact a record-shattering number of Anti-LGBTQ measures into law.” These figures and predictions alone prove just how severe the mental health crisis is for the LGBTQ community. Imagine wanting to get help but finding out that there are only a handful of LGBTQ-identifying therapists in the U.S. that operate solely with a focus on LGBTQ individuals and relationships. No data exists to put an exact number on these specialized therapists, and many straight therapists say they work with gay couples. While they mean well, not understanding the nuances of a lesbian relationship makes it that much more difficult for lesbian couples who want help to find the right therapist for them.
With over 20 years of experience as a licensed marriage therapist, Dr. Spann has worked with over 600 couples. And since opening the Lesbian Couples Institute in 2018, she boasts a success rate of 88 percent. Dr. Lynda Spann is a frequent contributor to many news sources on the subject of LGBTQ mental health. Following the Olympic uproar regarding mental health, she came up with 11 things we can do to address LGBTQ mental health. Among these, she suggests working diligently to end the stigma and reduce fears at a social and family level in asking for help with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, suicidal feelings, and shame. Also, ensuring that all LGBTQ-phobic bullying, harassment, and hate crimes victims are treated in the same way that a privileged, heteronormative victim would be treated is imperative to ending the mental health crisis in this marginalized community. A recent hate crime taking place on Mission Beach in San Diego, Calif., proves what every LGBTQ person fears: the police won’t protect us the way they do members of non-marginalized communities. When 15-20 individuals (identifying as LGBTQ) are mocked, threatened at gunpoint, and physically assaulted (resulting in a lacerated face for one member of this group) and then treated by police as if they don’t matter the toll taken on their mental health and that of their family members and friends who care about them is significant.
Not only is Dr. Spann a mental health advocate, but she’s also gone a step further by taking her work nationally, creating (to our knowledge) the first of its kind virtual coaching program, known as TLC – Transforming Lesbian Couples, tailored to women who identify as lesbians. By discussing fears, struggles, and issues with not only a qualified therapist but one that identifies as a lesbian herself, women all over the country now have the opportunity to seek the help and guidance necessary to lead happy, joyful, and fulfilling lives with the one they love. According to Dr. Spann, “most lesbian couples need guidance to create a secure relationship where they are safe to grow individually and together. Through my work and relationship experience of my own, I guide them to a place where they can enjoy a life-long journey of love, joy, connection, and expansion.” And Dr. Spann has proven herself trustworthy. Identifying as a lesbian herself, she is all too familiar with the nuances of the relationship between two women and has done the work independently. Her struggles in previous relationships provide the skills to confidently guide women who face similar issues to do the work that has led to a sixteen-year relationship with her wife and fellow therapist, Lisa Yaeger.
For more information, visit www.lesbiancouplesinstitute.com.
About Dr. Lynda Spann
Dr. Lynda Spann is a frequent contributor to many news sources on the subject of LGBTQ mental health. As a lesbian who struggled with coming out and establishing fulfilling and healthy relationships with women, Dr. Lynda Spann knows firsthand the struggles two women may face in an intimate and romantic relationship. Dr. Spann learned how to love in a way that freed her to be her true self, and she felt called to help other women, specifically lesbian identifying, do the same. In 2018 when she opened the Lesbian Couples Institute in Denver, CO, this dream became a reality. Lynda Spann has over 20 years of experience as a marriage and couples therapist and counselor and decided it was time to take not only her academic knowledge but her own unique life experience to help her community. Her new online coaching program is the first of its kind, as far as we’ve found, and is formulated to fit the needs of lesbian couples and their issues by providing step-by-step guidance from someone who knows firsthand how to do the work.