• Who We Help
• Autism
• Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
• Specialty Mental Health
• Education Services
• Foster Care
• LGBTQ
• Clinical Approaches

Supporting the LGBTQ+ community

Devereux is proud to be a behavioral healthcare leader for the LGBTQ+ community. We have a rich history assisting diverse populations of individuals who need care, comfort and support – regardless of their ethnicity, race, religion, or sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

Devereux supports educational, policy and clinical changes that create safe spaces to help these individuals strengthen their overall emotional health and well-being. We stand firmly alongside LGBTQ+ adolescents and adults, not only to help eliminate discrimination that exists in our society today, but to evolve our culture from one of tolerance > to acceptance > to affirmation.

To help generate awareness and eliminate stigma, Devereux offers a series of training tools – to staff and foster parents – to provide education regarding cultural competency in the workplace. Specifically, Devereux:

• Follows workplace policies that state LGBTQ+ staff are to be treated equally. Our employment policies protect staff from discrimination due to their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, even in states where there are no LGBTQ+ protections.
• Provides equal opportunity employment and benefits (including domestic partner benefits) to LGBTQ+ employees.
• Supports transgender employees and covered loved ones through medical transition, which may include hormone therapy, behavioral health services and gender-affirming surgeries.
• Provides an LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group (ERG) for LGBTQ+ members of the Devereux community. This ERG fosters an inclusive workplace, facilitates discussions, educates allies/advocates and builds a community of inclusive teams.
• Displays images on our campuses that demonstrate inclusiveness.
• Participates in community events to promote our services to the LGBTQ+ community.
• Actively recruits, trains and supports LGBTQ+ staff members and foster/adoptive parents.
• Partners with other organizations to advance the equality of LGBTQ+ people.

In addition, Devereux has adopted the American Psychological Association’s Gender Affirmative Model as its overarching clinical approach to supporting transgender and gender-expansive individuals in our care. This model is the emerging best practice treatment of choice, focusing on resilience, coping and wellness.

Promoting inclusion with gendered and gender-neutral pronouns 

Knowing and using gendered and gender-neutral pronouns – words that take the place of names to identify someone – in the workplace is a simple and impactful way to show respect and support for our colleagues, as well as the individuals and families we serve.

At Devereux, we recognize that the use of personal pronouns in email signatures promotes diversity and inclusivity. Staff are encouraged to use gendered pronouns, such as: she/her/hers and he/him/his, or gender-neutral pronouns, including: they/them/theirs; ze/hir/hirs; ey/em/eir; or others in accordance with how they identify. In addition, Devereux provides virtual backgrounds featuring gendered and gender-neutral pronouns for team members to use during videoconferences. Including these pronouns builds awareness of gender identity and gender expression, and demonstrates that Devereux is a safe, welcoming and affirming place for all.