Visibility Campaign: Shayn Ember
As part of LGBTQ+ History Month, we are sharing our very first Visibility Campaign, where we look to our diverse and talented staff, to tell their stories and shed light on the rich cultural diversity that exists in our workforce. Today's spotlight goes to Shayn Ember (they/them/theirs), PhD, Connecticut Statewide Youth Recovery Support Coordinator.
Shayn Ember (they/them pronouns) has been the Connecticut Statewide Youth Recovery Support Coordinator at Wheeler Clinic since May 2020. In their current role, Shayn coordinates the CROSS Initiative, which provides mini-grants and ongoing support for non-profits to provide peer-support for young people who use substances by starting Teen or Young Adult SMART Recovery meetings, SMART Family & Friends meetings, and free sober social groups. Shayn, who is non-binary and Queer, also volunteers with the New Haven Pride Center and has been the facilitator of the free monthly Questioning Gender Discussion Group since 2018. Before starting at Wheeler Clinic, Shayn was the Recovery Team Supervisor at The Children’s Center of Hamden. The Recovery Team provides free case management, recovery coaching, referrals, outreach, and wrap around support for teens who use substances and their families. Shayn has been a SMART Recovery volunteer and facilitator since 2017 and they are a trainer for CCAR Recovery Coach Academy since 2018. Before working in the addiction recovery field, Shayn was a scientist who focused on neuroendocrinology and sex chromosome research and taught a seminar at UCLA called "Nature vs. Nurture in Sex and Gender" as part of a year-long interdisciplinary course entitled "Sex from Biology to Gendered Society." Shayn earned their PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA in 2016, and they completed a BA in Neuroscience at Claremont McKenna College in 2009. Shayn is a person in long-term recovery and is passionate about increasing access and decreasing systemic barriers to effective prevention, peer-support, and treatment for young people who use substances, especially LGBTQ+ people who are disproportionately affected by substance use and barriers to recovery supports.
How can we better support LGBTQ+ identifying staff, and LGBTQ+ allied staff? How do you feel we can better reach the LGBTQ+ community externally, to let them know about us and how we can help them?
Have gender neutral restrooms available and clearly indicated at every single Wheeler location (to me this is a big one!). Encourage every staff at Wheeler Clinic to include pronouns in their email signature and include pronouns along with names when making introductions. Make sure that all paperwork is LGBTQ+ friendly both for trans patients and for staff. Connect with individuals and organizations that already primarily work with LGBTQ+ individuals including non-profit organizations (New Haven Pride Center, True Colors, Triangle Community Center, PFLAG) and medical providers who specialize in LGBTQ+ health (Anchor Health, Middlesex Hospital Transgender Medicine Services, Planned Parenthood, Vanessa Pomarico). Go to Pride celebrations. Use targeted social media advertising.
Thank you, Shayn, for sharing your story!
