Toronto Psychotherapy

YOU LOOK GREAT!

Thank you for visiting my research page. If you are here to download the full report on the survey I conducted with lesbian, bisexual, queer women and trans people living with invisible chronic illnesses and/or conditions, then you are in the right place. The report is called “You look great!” and you can download it by clicking on this link:

You look great REPORT

A PDF file should open up in your computer. Should you have any trouble, please contact me at silvanabazet(at)hushmail.com.

Since I posted the report on this page, 350+ people have downloaded it!

Please note that this report is written in plain language and it is intended for the general public. It is not an academic report. Here are some of the comments people are making about the report:

• “I’m pretty impressed. It’s high time someone put 2 & 2 together in this regard. Excellent paper.”
• “I’ve just downloaded and started reading and quickly found myself on page 9 before I realized I should get back to work! Such great writing. I love it!”
• “I’ve read the study four times tonight. As a straight white woman (and all the privilege that goes with that), your report has me in tears, because I relate to almost everything that was said. And the stuff I can’t relate to, I still get at a core level. The part about gender identity for high femmes was particularly profound for me.”

I look forward to hearing your comments once you have read the report.

EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS AVAILABLE

I am available to conduct educational workshops with the content of the report. My workshops are interactive and they can be tailored to your organization. I have been facilitating workshops since the early 1990s. My rates are reasonable. Here are two comments from participants of my workshops:

• “This was personally one of the best afternoons I have spent. It has been so valuable to me, I can’t begin to thank you enough for doing this. It’s given me words, language, context.”
• “Silvana Bazet has all the virtues of a first rater presenter. Her pacing is impeccable; she is well organized and knows her material; she is responsive to her audience, and she is able to engage them directly with humour and knowledge. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

There are three types of workshops available with this topic:

1) 60-minute workshop: This is a 40-minute power-point presentation with a Q & A component.

2) Half day workshop: This workshop includes clinical cases and small and large group discussions as well as a power-point presentation.

3) Full day workshop: This workshop includes everything from above with the opportunity of more exercises and more in-depth discussion as well as an educational component regarding ableism.

For more information, please contact me at: silvanabazet@hushmail.com

PAST PRESENTATIONS

June 21, 2012

I facilitated a workshop for service providers at Sherbourne Health Centre. This event was sponsored by Rainbow Health Ontario and approximately 20 health care providers and researchers attended. There was enthusiasm in the room and people spoke of the change they plan to make in their way of providing services.

June 14, 2012

I presented at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) for Dr. Lori Ross’s department. After the presentation, Dr. Lori Ross’s research office became officially scent-free.

June 2, 2012 – I presented to approximately 20 queer women living with invisible chronic illnesses and/or conditions, their families, friends and allies at the 519 community centre in Toronto. The discussion was lively and participants felt reflected by the content of the report.

REPORT BACKGROUND

A number of years ago, I started to notice that a fair number of queers I knew had  chronic health conditions that were not apparent to most people.  I also notice that most service providers were completely unaware of the challenges faced by queers with invisible chronic illnesses and/or conditions.  My intention was to start a conversation about this within the LGBTTIQ communities so that we can advocate for change in our communities and in our personal relationships.

Non-apparent chronic health conditions are also known as invisible chronic illness, and sometimes they are referred to as episodic disabilities.  These illnesses share a number of characteristics regardless of diagnosis. Some of these characteristics are: non-observable symptoms (i.e.: pain, fatigue, cognitive difficulty), some symptoms are immeasurable, sometimes people appear well, and the illness has periods of exacerbation and remission. There are many non-apparent chronic illnesses. A few examples are: multiple sclerosis, arthritis, HIV, fibromyalgia, lupus, environmental illness and irritable bowel syndrome. There are many myths and misconceptions about chronic illnesses and very limited research in Canada as to how  they affect the lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender, transsexual, two-spirit and intersex communities.

In early 2010, I conducted a survey online regarding invisible chronic illnesses and/or conditions in the lesbian, bisexual, and queer women and trans people communities.  158 participants completed this survey.  A brief summary of the results of the survey was presented at the Rainbow Health Ontario 2010 Conference in the workshop titled “You look great!” on March 25, 2010.  About 25 people attended the workshop.