Student Profile: Abby Grimm

Abby is a senior majoring in public health sciences. She’s currently writing an honors thesis examining the relationship between school experiences and disparities in mental health outcomes of gender minority adolescents compared to their cisgender peers.

Q: What does the LGBTQIA+ community mean to you?

For me, it’s an identity. It’s related to my sexual orientation and gender identity, but it’s more than that – it’s a place and a group of people I know I can be safe with. In the queer community, there is a collective understanding of care. It’s something I’ve stepped back into recently. It was an identity but it wasn’t something I was fully embracing, so it feels good to be back in that space especially as my research and my professional interests are moving back in that direction.

Q: Tell us about your research for your thesis.

I’m doing research on experiences in school of adolescents who are part of the gender minority community - trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer folks. I am looking at how these experiences impact their mental health outcomes and substance use and abuse patterns. We are using Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from Franklin County. We hope it will give us a picture of what adolescents in this specific area of Massachusetts are experiencing.

We also will be able to compare that data to broader data across the state and nationally. How do the experiences and outcomes of gender queer youth in Franklin Country compare to their cisgender peers, both locally and beyond? What about compared to their cisgender lesbian, bisexual, gay, and queer counterparts?

Q: How have UMass and SPHHS supported you and your research in LGBTQIA+ health?

UMass, as a research institution, has given me more opportunities than I could have imagined. First of all, public health is not a subject that smaller universities offer, so the fact that I am at UMass and have access to these public health courses is special. UMass is a flagship research institution which means I have access to resources at a higher level in this field.

I became interested in LGBTQIA+ research when I was working as a research assistant on a mental health study. That study was focused on schizophrenia. Even though the professor I was working with didn’t have expertise in LGBTQIA+ health they were able to connect me with the right people to make sure I was able to study what mattered to me.

Q: Reflecting on LGBTQIA+ History Month, what does it mean to you?

Same-sex marriage was federally legalized less than 10 years ago. It can be hard to imagine that I’ve grown up in an era when you couldn’t always marry who you love. I really appreciate the work that people who came before me have done. These people have acted and made changes so we have this step towards freedom and equality that we deserve.

At the same time, I acknowledge that there is so much more to come, especially for gender minorities. Many people are supportive of gay marriage, especially here in Massachusetts. Now, gender queer, trans, and nonbinary folks, are fighting for the care that they need. They deserve recognition and acceptance. We need to keep doing this work so that everyone can be acknowledged, affirmed, and receive the care they need

Q: What are your plans for the future?

I am applying to graduate nursing programs. I want to become a family nurse practitioner who specializes in providing care to LGBTQIA+ folks and can offer gender-affirming care. It’s important that healthcare professionals understand that someone’s identity is a big part of who they are and we need to be able to provide care based on that. There are a lot of folks, especially in the LGBTQIA+ community and among other marginalized identities, who avoid seeking care because of past negative experiences or fear of healthcare interactions. They are afraid of being misgendered because the name that’s on their chart is their deadname and there are no pronouns. I want to work to create a standard of care, especially in preventative care that encourages and allows marginalized folks to get the care they need. People aren’t getting adequate care and it’s impacting folks' abilities to live happy, joyful, long lives as queer people and it’s leading to health disparities.