Fostering Affirming Spaces for Queer & Trans Youth Who are System-Involved or at High Risk of System-Involvement

 Mack Boyle

Training Description

This training will support participants in exploring strategies and practices for fostering affirming and inclusive spaces for queer and trans youth. Participants will learn definitions related to gender identity and sexual orientation while examining the reality of current experiences of queer and trans youth within systems of care. Through videos, discussion, scenario practice, and journal reflection, participants will explore both individual and institutional practices that affirm and support queer and trans youth that are system-involved or at high risk of being system-involved.

Learning Objectives

• Participants will be able to explain 3 different definitions related to gender identity and sexual orientation

• Participants will be able to explain 1-2 experiences that queer and trans youth have within systems of care

• Participants will identify 2-3 strategies for fostering affirming and inclusive spaces for queer and trans youth

Agenda

9:30-9:45AM

• Training Agenda and Objectives

• Collective Agreements

• Check-In Question: How do you feel affirmed by your friends, families, and loved ones?

9:45-10:00AM

• Terminology Review: Gender Unicorn

• Participants will explore and learn the various definitions and identities related to LGBTQ identities

10:00-10:15AM

• Watch Alok Menon Video

• Participants will explore and discuss the importance of affirming people’s identities

10:15-10:30AM

• Participants will engage in a terminology matching game to practice with the definitions related to LGBTQ identities

10:30-10:45AM

• Participants will continue to engage in a terminology matching game to practice with the definitions related to LGBTQ identities and then discuss in the large group

10:45-11:00AM

• Participants will learn about the current experiences of queer and trans youth within systems of care: Mental Health, Juvenile Justice, Education, Child Welfare/Social Services. This will allow for a deeper understanding of the scope of the problem and why affirming queer and trans youth should be centered in our work.

11:00-11:15AM BREAK (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

11:15-11:30AM

• Participants will continue to learn about the current experiences of queer and trans youth within systems of care: Mental Health, Juvenile Justice, Education, Child Welfare/Social Services

11:30-11:45AM

• Participants will learn about the current context of anti-trans legislation to further understand the scope of the problem.

• Participants will watch a video about the impact of anti-trans legislation on trans youth

11:45AM-12:00PM

• Participants will engage in a journal reflection and then small group discussion around anti-trans legislation and how it impacts system-involved queer and trans youth.

12:00-12:15PM

• Participants will engage in a large group discussion around the reflection & small group discussion to deepen their understanding of the impacts of anti-trans legislation on the mental health of queer & trans youth.

12:15-12:30PM

• Participants will explore various protective laws and regulations for queer and trans youth.

12:30-1:00PM  Lunch Break (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

1:00-1:15PM

• Participants will explore best practices for fostering affirming spaces for queer and trans youth on an institutional level

1:15-1:30PM

• Participants will engage in an organizational assessment to determine where their growing edges are related to creating affirming spaces for queer and trans youth within their programs and organizations

• Participants will discuss their findings in small group with one another

1:30-1:45PM

• Participants will discuss their findings in small groups with one another

• Participants will discuss in the large group what they found out via the organizational assessment to strategize collectively how to better support queer and trans youth on an institutional level

1:45-2:00PM

• Participants will explore best practices for fostering affirming spaces for queer and trans youth on an interpersonal and individual level

2:00-2:15PM

• Participants will watch a video about how to support queer and trans youth in systems of care

• Participants will discuss and strategize ways that they individually affirm system-involved queer and trans youth that they support.

2:15-2:30PM

• Participants will learn about the many different things that have brought queer and trans youth joy within the last national survey to learn about ways to center love & joy when working with system involved queer & trans youth

• Participants will learn a strategy for interrupting harm to queer and trans youth when they see harm occurring

2:30-2:45PM

• Participants will practice engaging with various scenarios that include queer and trans youth so that we can apply the strategies that we discussed previously.

2:45-3:00PM

• Participants will continue practicing with the different scenarios while in break-out discussion groups.

3:00-3:15PM

• Participants will collectively share-out how the practice scenarios went and spend time strategizing on ways that they could have engaged in the scenario.

3:15-3:30PM

• Participants will share out a strategy that they will utilize to better support and affirm queer and trans youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system involvement.

Meet Our Trainer

Mack is a white queer fat organizer, mental health worker, and facilitator working on capacity building related to racial justice, abolition, and body liberation. Their focus is to support white folks in transforming the ways we engage with race, building communities of trust and care, and developing somatic awareness to act more in alignment with values of social justice. Through their time working in mental health nonprofits, they have supported the implementation of equity centered policies, practices, discussion spaces, and working groups to support organizations in centering equity and justice. Based in Oakland, CA, on unceded Ohlone land, Mack was a mental health rehabilitation specialist within Oakland Unified School District. Through this lens they have developed and led training sessions for teachers, parents, and school communities on fostering community with attention to power dynamics, intersectionality, and creating affirming spaces for queer and trans youth. They facilitate and co-develop curriculum for white affinity spaces for folks looking to deepen and transform their racial analysis. They are currently working with higher education institutions such as Stanford, and UC Santa cruz, as well as non-profits, public schools, and mental health programs, to support individuals and leaders in building tools and strategies to navigate conflict, engage in courageous conversations and become agents for change within their specific context.

This course meets the qualifications for (5.25) BBS CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.