Mental Health Considerations for Transgender and Gender Diverse Folks

Presented by CommunityCare of Lyme’s Mental Health Team
with Featured Speaker, Oakland Walters, MD

CommunityCare of Lyme’s new Mental Health Team*, led by Laurie Veillette, PsyD, is off to an exciting start, hosting opportunities for education and supportive conversation across the community. 

The first program was Mental Health Considerations for Transgender and Gender Diverse Folks, with Oakland Walters, MD, held Tuesday, September 13th via Zoom. The presentation was informative and engaging. Participants included individuals touched directly by the challenges discussed, health practitioners, and community leaders from Lyme, across the Upper Valley, and beyond. We all learned something and gained new ideas about being open to and promoting this important conversation.

We’re pleased to share the recording of the program, to help us all learn and work together as we build communities where everyone feels heard, safe, and loved.

Thank you to Oakland Walters, MD for sharing his time, passion and expertise with the community, to the CommunityCare of Lyme Mental Health team for bringing this event together, to those who attended the session live, and to all for supporting efforts to improve mental health in the community team by viewing the recording and engaging with this topic.

NOTE: Converse Free Library in Lyme has more resources available on this topic. Click here to learn more.

To start the video (below) press ▶️

Oakland Walters, MD
Dr. Oakland Walters (pronouns he/him) completed his residency in psychiatry at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in June 2021. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Maine, post-bacc from Duquense University, and medical degree from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. He has been privileged to have extensive experience working in academic, community, and clinical research settings, with particular emphasis placed on serving the LGBTQIA+ community. He pioneered the first outpatient consultation service within Dartmouth’s psychiatry department to improve access to care for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals. As a strong advocate for TGD folks, he has led many regional and national trainings and presentations on mental wellness for TGD youth and adults, and is involved in research examining the impact of gender-affirming treatment on quality of life. More recently, he continued to work at Parkland Medical Center in Derry, NH and leaves for a psychiatry position in New Zealand next month. His mission is to improve mental health services and ameliorate health disparities for individuals in the sexual and gender minority community.

* CCL’s Mental Health Team is forming now and will continue to evolve with input from individuals and organizations looking to support mental health in the community. All are welcome to be a part. Mental health needs are broad and varied. This team’s programming and services will be responsive to input received from community members. Please contact us if you would like to help identify resources or share programming, or if you have questions or suggestions about topics to address. Email mentalhealth@cclyme.org or call our main number at 603-795-0603.

Upcoming event: Mindfulness and Coping Strategies, a community discussion with Elize Poli, PsyD. Tuesday, October 4th at 5:30pm in the CCL Living Room at the Lyme Center Academy Building. All are welcome. For more information or to register, email mentalhealth@cclyme.org or call 603-795-0603.

If you have a wellness themed topic you would like to share or learn more about, and/or blog/vlog about as an expert in a health/wellness related field, please reach out to shelby@cclyme.org. 

Shelby Wood
Manager of Volunteer Participation
CommunityCare of Lyme
Shelby@cclyme.org
802-468-7776