Gender Spectrum provides training to help social service professionals and those in child welfare systems address the needs of gender expansive and transgender children and adolescents.
We work with social service providers at the city and county levels, program supervisors for county and state agencies, public health agencies and professionals in the juvenile justice system. Our trainings will inform your work with all of your clients and help you become more sensitive and responsive to transgender and gender expansive youth. In all of our work, we honor the diversity of your community and pay particular attention to the specific needs of racial, ethnic and cultural communities.
We can help you to develop specific strategies for action and methods of evaluating outcomes for children, youth and families.
Our trainings provide:
- A basic understanding of gender identity development
- Appropriate practices and policies to ensure equitable care for gender-expansive and transgender young people
- Guidance in implementing professional standards of care
- Family engagement strategies
- A deeper understanding of issues specific to out-of-home residential care and foster care.
Foundations of Gender Inclusion for Social Service Professionals
Our Foundations of Gender training is usually delivered in two sessions and is designed to establish basic understandings of gender diversity and approaches for applying them to professional practice.
Through direct presentation, video clips of youth and others talking about gender, and group reflection and discussion, this workshop takes participants through a review of basic gender concepts and terminology. Building on this foundation, the session describes concrete methods for applying the lens of gender diversity to social service practices.
The components are Dimensions of Gender and Gender Inclusion in Action.
Dimensions of Gender
This 75 minute training includes:
- Presentation of key terminology and concepts related to gender
- Reflection on personal beliefs and experiences with gender
- Perspectives from youth and caregivers about gender
- Introduction to Principles of Gender Affirmative Care
Gender Inclusion in Action
This 60 minute session builds on understanding of basic concepts of gender and applies them to your institutional practices:
- Overview of data about family affirmation and its relation to health and wellbeing outcomes for transgender and other gender-expansive youth
- Discussion of strategies related to supporting transgender and other gender-expansive youth in various contexts, including in the social welfare system, in schools, at home and within their communities
Also included in this program of professional development is a set of articles, resources and tools for implementing various strategies in your work with youth and caregivers.
Learn More and Request a Training
We host regular teleconference information sessions where you can learn more about our professional development services. These Training Q&A calls give us a chance to share information about our work and give you a chance to ask questions related to your specific needs. Click below to get the schedule and join a call. You can also contact us for more information at [email protected].
We maintain a strict level of privacy about our work with your group. Unless you wish to promote our collaboration, we will not publish nor discuss it publicly. All of our work together is done confidentially.
"We are not able to take any inquiries through our website currently and apologize for this inconvenience. For all inquiries pertaining to Professional Development, including new training opportunities, information on our Institutes and updates on currently scheduled sessions, please send an email to [email protected]
Thank you and we will update you as we are able."