The purpose of this advanced clinical training is to support attendees continued development of the knowledge, skills, awareness, and advocacy skills necessary to provide culturally-responsive care to transgender and gender-expansive youth, and young adults. This workshop will utilize the advocacy counseling paradigm (Green et al., 2008) to support helping professionals to cultivate competencies in the following areas:

·  Affirming and supporting youth in multiple settings and environments (e.g. home, school, work, community), to include the creation of client-centered gender support plans

·  Identifying non-affirming institutional policies, and advocating for positive systems-wide change

·  Assisting transgender and gender-expansive youth to develop self-advocacy skills critical for navigating oppressive systems, bullying, and ambivalent and rejecting behaviors from loved ones

·  Pragmatic strategies for helping clients manage anxiety associated with gender dysphoria

·  Psychoeducation regarding gender-affirming medical interventions, to include: Foundational knowledge about options available and their effects, the role of the helping professional in providing support, and WPATH letters

·  Ethical considerations for the informed consent process as transgender and gender-expansive youth align their gender presentation with their authentic selves

References

Green, E.J., McCollum, V.C., & Hays, D.G. (2008). Teaching advocacy counseling within a social justice framework: Implications for school counselors and educators. Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 1(2),14–30.

Cortny Stark PhD LPCC LADAC CRC (she, her, hers) is an Assistant Professor with the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Department of Counseling and Human Services, and telehealth therapist for the Trauma Treatment Center and Research Facility in Rio Rancho, NM. Dr. Stark’s research focuses on LGBTQQIA+ issues in counseling, using qualitative methods to explore the experiences of counselor-advocates and community-based advocates for transgender and gender-expansive individuals. As a counselor educator, she encourages her students to critically evaluate taken-for-granted beliefs about gender and sex, and advocate for social change for historically oppressed communities.

Katie Brammer PhD LPC (She, Her, Hers) is a Counselor Educator. Recently, Katie moved to Missouri where she sees clients in private practice and supervises interns in St. Louis while also working as online Counseling Faculty at Southwestern College in Santa Fe, NM. She has experience as both a clinician and School Counselor in New Mexico. Viewing her research and counseling practices as being holistic—tailoring the approach to understand the influence of various systems, and collaborative, Katie attempts to ensure the needs of each individual client or participant are met. She believes recognizing the influence of socially constructed hegemonic norms is necessary when working with humans and integrates various theoretical approaches and mediums, such as play therapy, sand tray therapy, and expressive arts, into therapeutic and supervisory interventions to facilitate dialogue, improve functioning, and attain individualized goals. Katie has directed trainings and taught courses related to affirming care for LGBTQQIA+ youth and families and aims to advocate and provide culturally responsively, trauma-informed, education and information to create systemic change toward historically marginalized communities on local, national, and global levels. She actively conducts qualitative research related to improving the overall well-being of folx who are Transgender and Gender Expansive or individuals whose affectional orientation or romantic attraction defy heteronormativity.