Description: 

What issues do LGBT individuals face as they age? How does the stress of homophobia and transphobia exacerbate aging and contribute to "re-closeting" and "de-transitioning?" How can spiritual care perspectives inform the work of healthcare professionals in treating aging LGBT patients? In this workshop, attendees will hear from two clinicians and a spiritual care provider with expertise in working with LGBT patients who will address current research and best practices for working with an aging LGBT population. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a case study exercise.

This course is certified for up to 2 AMA PRA Category 1 CME credits. 

Speakers include: 

Rabbi Jo Hirschmann, who serves as the Director of Spiritual Care and Education as Mount Sinai Beth Israel and also as a Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor throughout the Mount Sinai Health System. She is a board certified chaplain, an ACPE Associate Supervisor, and a co-author of Maps and Meaning: Levitical Models for Contemporary Care (Fortess, 2014). 

Dr. Rosanne Leipzig,MD, PhD is the Gerald and May Ellen Ritter Professor (tenured) and the Vice Chair for Education of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.  Dr. Leipzig is an internationally recognized leader in Geriatrics and Evidence-Based Medicine, and has received numerous awards for her work including the American College of Physicians Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award, a Joy McCann Scholar award recognizing her expertise in mentoring and medical education, the 2008 Dennis W. Jahnigen Memorial award from the American Geriatrics Society, a Brookdale National Fellowship in Geriatric Medicine and in 2014 received the Paula Ettelbrick Community Service Award from Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE).  In 2016, she received the Jacobi Medallion, one of the highest honors from the Mount Sinai Health System.  She is also the editor-in-chief of Focus on Healthy Aging, a monthly newsletter for consumers, and past chair of the Geriatrics Working Group of the United States Preventive Services Task Force and the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Subspecialty Board on Geriatric Medicine.

Dr. Laura Kelly, PhD, RN, ANP-C, Director, Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program, Columbia University School of Nursing. I Dr. Kelly is the Director of the Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Program at Columbia. She is also an active clinician, mostly treating LGBT individuals. Her research informs her practice-and mostly centers around lesbians in later life. She is also the co-director of the LGBT Older Adult project in Monmouth County, NJ

Tentative Agenda

1:05pm - 1:25pm - Rabbi Jo Hirschmann - LGBT Communities: Aging, Religiosity, Spirituality, and Resilience 

Based on the small body of existing research, this presentation will summarize what we know about LGBT people’s religious/spiritual lives, particularly as people age.  We will discuss the practical implications of this for chaplains’ work and also discuss how clinicians from other disciplines can ask about and support the spiritual needs of older LGBT patients.

1:25pm-1:45pm - Dr. Laura Kelly - LGBT Elders: Do We All Age the Same?

Dr. Kelly will present the results of research conducted in 2015 regarding challenges of aging among LGBT older adults in NJ.

1:45pm-2:00pm - Dr. Rosanne Leipzig - Do your health care providers really need to know if you’re LGBTQ?

2:00pm - 2:45pm - Case study

2:45pm - 3:00pm - Q&A