Elizabethtown College’s Assistant Professor of Social Work Dr. Andy Dunlap recently had his article published in the Smith College Studies in Social Work. His article, “Supporting Youth in the Coming Out Process: Theory-Based Programming,” describes the importance of having supportive programming for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) youth.

“I am a social worker by training and before I got my Ph.D. and started teaching, I helped coordinate and provide services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth. I’ve been doing this kind of work since I was in graduate school for my master’s in social work (about 17 years),” he said.

Dunlap writes about how the social work field would benefit from the help of support groups, peer counseling programs, speakers’ panels and gay-straight alliances. “We don’t currently offer a class dedicated to social support for LGBTQ clients and people in the social work program, but I have taught such a course in the past and hope to create one here at Etown that may be part of the human services minor,” Dunlap said.

In his article, Dunlap writes that “coming out is a socially mediated transitional stage for same-sex attracted individuals. It is the process of acquiring a healthy sexual minority identity and involves divesting oneself of a heterosexual identity and adopting a new, often stigmatized sexual identity. For most same-sex attracted individuals, negotiating the coming out process involves a tension between self-shielding from stigma and honesty in connection with significant others. The dynamic between these two needs often delineates the pace at which a positive minority identity coalesces.”

According to the College’s website, “The department of social work at Etown takes to heart the College’s motto, ‘Educate for Service.’  From students’ very first social work class, they are out ‘in the field’ working with people through service learning.” Professors like Dunlap allow students to reach a new group of people, developing a broader audience in the social work major.

“Dr. Amy Milligan and I hope to use the theories and practices outlined in this article to improve the campus climate for LGBTQ students at Etown and are currently developing a project for the 2014 – 2015 school year,” Dunlap said.

The importance of teaching social work majors about LGBT people is becoming more important as the world viewpoints change. In his article, Dunlap says, “same-sex attracted youth (younger than age 21) are most often the population concern when discussing the process of coming out and are the focus of this inquiry. Current research on same-sex attracted youth indicate that decreased social stigma has led to coming out at younger ages.”