Enhancing awareness of QTBIPOC lives and strategies of resilience for QTBIPOC substance use recovery

Background/Focus The lack of focus in providing affirmative substance use counseling to Queer, Transgender, Black, and Indigenous People of Color (QTBIPOC) is significant to address, given how LGBTQ+ communities have been increasingly seeking out substance use counseling to cope with minority stress within the last few years. These stressors for LGBTQ+ communities have heightened significantly since recent executive orders to engage in structural violence toward transgender people.Methods Through synthesizing and critiquing current literature, this conceptual article examines how substance use counselors can improve their counseling services when working with QTBIPOC in substance use counseling settings.Results This conceptual article describes concrete strategies for counselors to promote QTBIPOC affirming substance use counseling including intentionally holding spaces of liberation for QTBIPOC, promoting story-telling and counter-narratives as part of recovery management, and recognizing personal and community sources of resilience that empower QTBIPOC in recovery.Conclusions Providing affirmative substance use counseling to QTBIPOC is essential to break through oppressive stigma and provide a liberating experience, as well as life-saving treatment, for such minoritized communities.