Pride in Recovery: Affirming Care at Helio Health

Fifty-six years ago, Pride began as a response to injustice. A riot led by LGBTQ+ individuals who were demanding safety, dignity, and change. That same push for visibility and equity continues today. Especially in recovery spaces where personal healing and systemic barriers often intersect. 

At Helio Health, we see that intersection every day. For many LGBTQ+ individuals, entering recovery isn’t just about mental health or substance use. It’s about stepping into systems that may not have always felt safe. And it takes real courage to ask for help in a space where you’re unsure how you’ll be received.  

That’s where affirming care comes in. When people are met with respect for who they are in every part of their identity, recovery becomes more than just treatment. It becomes a place where people rebuild trust, reconnect with themselves, and feel seen.

Getting help shouldn’t require extra layers of self-advocacy. But for many LGBTQ+ people, it does. Bias, systemic barriers, and the pressure to explain or defend one’s identity can all get in the way. 

LGBTQ+ adults are more than twice as likely to experience serious mental health challenges. Nearly half say they’ve needed mental health care but couldn’t access it– even with insurance. 

This is where the difference between equal and equitable care matters. Equal care offers the same treatment to everyone. Equitable care recognizes that not everyone starts from the same place and adapts to meet people where they are. 

Affirming care understands the impact of things like family rejection, discrimination, and isolation. Affirming care works. When someone walks into a room and doesn’t need to explain or defend who they are, they are more likely to stay and heal.

 

 

At Helio Health, affirming care doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built into how we train, listen, and respond. Through a partnership between the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) team, we regularly review policies and procedures with feedback from staff and clients in mind. 

As Jon Brown, a CQI specialist and DEI Committee member, explains, “We may not always get things perfectly right and individual experiences can vary, but through the systems that we have, regular trainings, systemic review of our policies with a quality lens, hopefully they can get the best care.” And for Jon, it all comes back to representation. He believes amplifying LGBTQ+ voices is what leads to systemic change. 

That lens has led to real change. Updates to the employee handbook made the dress code explicitly gender neutral. Pronoun stickers are now available across all Helio Health sites. And thanks to the work of the LGBTQ+ liaisons who meet monthly to ensure representation and access, staff and clients now have a list of affirming community resources available across programs. 

For Monroe Shim, Helio Health Counselor turned Training Institute Specialist, this work started on the ground level. “When I started working at Helio, I was the only trans person in the building,” he said. “I just naturally found myself tracking when trans clients were coming in, checking the bed board to make sure things were right…not because people were maliciously not doing things correctly, but because institutionally things aren’t set up to consider trans people.” 

That quiet tracking turned into action. Monroe developed Trans Affirming Care trainings that are now standard across the organization. They combine research with lived experience to offer practical, human-centered guidance. 

“There are many ways someone can approach change in an organization,” he said. “I didn’t want to just complain and quit. I believe in what Helio Health represents, and I wanted to be part of changing how it represents itself to the trans community.” 

That work continues today. In addition to core training, Helio Health now offers quarterly workshops where staff can keep the conversation going. “People actually reach out to me from all programs,” Monroe said. “To ask follow up questions and to ask me for feedback about interactions that they’ve had, which tells me that people are thinking more critically about their interactions with trans clients.” 

At Helio Health’s Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic in Utica, known as Insights, affirming care shows up in the small moments. With Project Director Amanda Karla helping to set the tone, the team works every day to ensure clients feel seen, safe, and supported. 

For Samantha Knecht, a targeted case manager, building trust often start in the waiting room. “Our system tells us what the clients preferred name and pronouns are, and I can walk into the waiting room and say that person’s preferred name,” she said. “When they come back, they’re like, ‘did you just call me by my preferred name?’ And I said, ‘that’s what you had requested to be addressed as. So that’s how I’m going to address you.’ usually when they go to a doctor’s office, they’ll use their legal name. This just makes them feel more welcome.” 

Affirming care also means anticipating where someone might feel at risk. Adrianna Ryan, a counselor, recalled working with a nonbinary teen whose mother did not accept their identity. “I asked them, ‘If I have to call your mom to reschedule, how am I addressing you?’ They said address me as my legal name and use she/her pronouns.” The team at Insights flagged this on their chart to ensure the teens safety. 

For some clients, affirming care means being part of milestones. Adrianna still remembers the client who called her multiple times just to share that their name change had finally gone through. “So, it just goes to show how great Helio Health does as an organization, because it helps foster a team that really helps support our service recipients.” 

Amanda sees these stories as part of a larger picture. “We’re talking about the health of the whole person,” she said. “We’re talking mind, body, spirit. All of that.” And that’s what affirming care really is. Making space for people to be fully themselves and supported enough to keep going.
 

As Adrianna puts it, “language is always evolving.” And so is this work. The more affirming care becomes the standard, the more people will feel safe taking the first step towards healing. 

Monroe sees it in those early moments of connection. “As much as you may be afraid that when you walk in the door someone might accidentally misgender you and that is possible, right? But you might also encounter me. Or you might encounter another queer or trans person. You never know what’s going to happen. And if you don’t walk in the door and give yourself a chance to seek help, you’ll never find out.” 

The work isn’t finished. Ending stigma, challenging discrimination, and closing gaps in care takes ongoing effort on every level. But each moment of affirmation brings us closer to the kind of system where everyone feels safe enough to begin healing and supported enough to stay. 

If you or a loved one are ready to begin a journey towards healing contact us.