B4U-Act

Home

About Us

FAQ

Principles

Seeking Therapy

Workshop

Perspectives

Fact Sheet

Articles

News

B4U-Act Holds Workshop for Mental Health Professionals

March 20, 2008 – B4U-Act held its one-day workshop entitled "Beyond Fear and Mistrust: Toward Open Communication between Mental Health Professionals and Minor-Attracted People" in Westminster, Maryland. The workshop was highly interactive, with four mental health professionals and four minor-attracted people taking leadership roles as presenters or discussion leaders. Attendance was by invitation only and the number was intentionally kept small to encourage interaction and honesty.

Throughout the day, there was respectful communication between mental health professionals and minor-attracted people, and some new friendships and partnerships were forged. Several ideas were suggested for future collaborative work, including another workshop to be held in late summer or fall of 2008. The organizers hope that minor-attracted people and mental health professionals will work together to find ways to fight false stereotypes, to help others see minor-attracted people as contributors to society rather than as potential offenders who need to be controlled, and to make accurate information and compassionate services available for minor-attracted people who need help in finding hope and fulfillment in their lives.

TheTogetherChat Submits Report to BMHS

June 22, 2007 – Participants at TheTogetherChat submitted a report of their discussions to Baltimore Mental Health Systems. This report identifies several barriers to communication that exist between mental health professionals and minor-attracted people, including self-interest, media sensationalizing, culturally enforced secrecy, drastic and ineffective legal policies, inaccurate stereotypes, the silencing of minor-attracted people who behave responsibly, misleading paradigms used to understand them, adversarial professional relationships, derogatory professional language, severe stigma, marginalization, and fear on both sides. The report describes how improved communication would contribute to the prevention of offending, the prevention of harm to minor-attracted adults and adolescents, increased understanding by mental health professionals, and more effective and just policies.

The report proposes a variety of interventions, such as workshops to promote honest communication between the two groups and a change in the existing paradigm, the creation of an infrastructure of highly visible mental health services, a review and revision of professional language, the organizing of informal meetings held around the country where both groups could speak honestly about common concerns, and the formation of a working group that would disseminate accurate information to stakeholders. The report also identifies possible obstacles to these interventions and ways of working around them.

Finally, the report outlines plans for a workshop to be held by B4U-Act in late fall or winter, with support from BMHS. The proposed workshop would involve interactive sessions where attendees work together toward the following goals:

To define the communication problem that exists between mental health professionals and minor attracted people in society;
To promote understanding of the harmful consequences of this problem, and the benefits of eliminating the barriers to communication;
To develop mutual empathy among mental health professionals and minor attracted people;
To help mental health professionals see minor attracted people as diverse in their characteristics and behaviors;
To form a working group that would develop and carry out plans to promote communication between the two groups over a period of time, and on a larger scale.

The full report can be found here (Word document).

TheTogetherChat Begins

Nov. 21, 2006 – B4U-Act opened its forum for mental health professionals and minor-attracted adults to discuss the barriers that hinder communication between them. Three professionals, all of whom specialize in treatment for minor-attracted adults, and three minor-attracted adults were recruited to participate. Over the next several months, the group expects to include additional participants. Participants are charged with identifying the barriers that hinder communication between them, understanding how the elimination of these barriers would benefit both parties and society in general, identifying interventions to overcome them, and formulating plans for educational conferences on the subject. The group is expected to report its plans to Baltimore Mental Health Systems by June 1, 2007.