Mental Health and Addiction Services Exclusive to LGBTQ2S+ during COVID-19: An Environmental Scan

Background: Youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, 2-spirit, and of other identities (LGBTQ2S+) experience mental health disparities and higher rates of substance use when compared to their cisgender and heterosexual peers and yet also experience more barriers to access to services. The purpose of this paper is to determine the types of mental health and substance use programs and services exclusive to LGBTQ2S+ youth in Ontario during the pandemic. Methods: An environmental scan was conducted to identify existing programs and services in Ontario, Canada that offered exclusive mental health and addiction services to LGBTQ2S+ individuals aged 16–29, either by offering services to all or subgroups within the population. Organizations, services and programs were classified by the geographical distribution of services, populations served, types of programming or services, methods of service delivery, and program criteria. Results: In total, 113 organizations and 240 programs and services were identified as providing mental health and substance use services exclusively to LGBTQ2S+ youth. Identified adaptations for the COVID-19 pandemic included cancelling in-person services, increasing online and telephone services, and expansion to province wide from local availability. Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of offering services that provide culturally inclusive care for LGBTQ2S+ youth, and these results can also be used by policy makers to inform policies. In particular, there was a lack of culturally relevant clinical services for youth requiring a greater intensity of treatment.