Health Equity at Optum

Tammy:

Sophie came out when she was 13, probably going into the eighth grade, but we had kind of a feeling, something was up.

Sophie:

I had no idea who I was at the time and I was trying to figure it out. It was so hard to find resources or people that really understood what I was going through.

Tammy:

She did, probably, battle some depression when she was about a pre teen. I think a couple times we would say, "Do you think it's something to be concerned about?

Al:

Yeah, she started kind of shutting down.

Sophie:

It was terrifying coming out to them. I put post-it notes on their bed that just said, "Guess who's straight? Not your daughter, she's gay." The hardest part about coming out was just trying figure out if this was actually what I was feeling, because I did have to look through a ton of just really weird, random, Am I Gay quizzes online, because it's the only resource I could really find.

Al:

It was nerve wracking knowing she's out there looking for resources and we are sitting here trying to support her and give her solid resources that are going to help her.

Tammy:

Safe resources. We want safe, credible, supportive resources.

Sophie:

To have specific care for the group community, the LGBT community, is very important just so that you can at least hear what you need to hear or get the support that you need.

Tammy:

Pride 365+ is a new initiative and part of Optum to create awareness, but also support for the LGBTQ community, family members, people that are allies.

Sophie:

My mom was the person that originally introduced me to the Pride 365+ program. It had information on pronouns and sexual orientations and genders and everything and definitions for everything. It was just so cool because I had never really seen that before. Especially not something that was so public and available for people that needed that support.

Tammy:

If I was a new parent of finding out about my own child or somebody else, to have that kind of resource available to me to, to be able to learn, it's huge. It would've taken so much of that anxiety and the worry and stuff out of it, I think, had we had some place to go that quickly and easy to find that much information.

Sophie:

It would've been so much easier for me. If anything, it would've just been easier for me to talk to my parents about this.

Tammy:

It's important that everybody feels cared for. As a nurse, I can tell you that everybody needs to know that they're worth the time and the energy.

Sophie:

It's very important to at least know that you're not alone in what you're going through. Just feeling extremely isolated can be so hard for someone's mental health. Honestly, if I could talk to my middle school self right now, I would say you're doing so good.