Avik Chatterjee Speaks on LGBTQ+ Youth Experiencing Homelessness
On Friday, November 1, Dr. Avik Chatterjee, an Assistant Professor in the Section of General Internal Medicine, presented “LGBTQ+ Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Health Impacts and a Call to Action” at a LGBTQIA+ Scholar Series event hosted by the Boston University LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff and the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Chatterjee is an internal medicine and pediatrics trained physician who sees patients in shelter-based clinics in the Boston area through Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.
Dr. Chatterjee discussed the disproportionate burden of homelessness on LGBTQ+ youth, as well as the physical and mental health risks incurred by LGBTQ+ youth due to homelessness. His presentation covered individual- and policy-level strategies to support homeless LGBTQ+ youth. In 2023, Dr. Chatterjee published a commentary in response to “Homelessness Among Sexual Minority Youth,” published in Pediatrics in 2023 by Cameron Deal and Gilbert Gonzales, PhD, MHA.
Dr. Chatterjee noted that, as providers and policymakers, it is important to develop interventions to reach sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth who are homeless and address health risks. He explained that building rapport is essential, especially by meeting youth where they are — through safe spaces like Y2Y and Bridge Over Troubled Waters and by taking a trauma-informed and harm reduction approach. The Community Care in Reach Mobile Addiction Program serves Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program patients in a mobile fashion, bringing supplies, overdose prevention, and harm reduction to wherever patients are located in Boston.
For those interested in attending other BU LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff Events, you can view the events calendar here.