Strong evidence exists that LGBTQ students are underserved and at high risk in schools. Only by increasing the knowledge, skills, and awareness of school counselors will they be able to act systematically and effectively address the needs of LGBTQ youth within the complex school environment. In order to design programs for school counselors that reflect their unique roles, it is necessary to learn more about their experiences in working with LGBTQ youth, ideas regarding training needs, as well as motivation and type of training that would be helpful. The goal of the presenters is to share the results of a nationwide study exploring the experiences and identified training needs of Professional School Counselors in working with LGBTQ youth.

Although advancements have been made in facilitating counselor awareness and knowledge in working with the LGBQ population, counselors identify skills as the competency they are most lacking. This leaves counselor educators with the task of improving skills-training for future counselors. Presenters will discuss and demonstrate techniques for working with the LGBQ population that may be infused into the counselor education curriculum. Delivery methods include brief didactic presentation, experiential exercises, and resources describing skill development activities.

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Binary ways of thinking about gender and affectional orientation permeate broader society—male-female, woman-man, gay-straight, to name a few. Such binary thought may even contribute to further marginalization within, among, and between individuals of the LGBTQQIAA2P community. The presenters of this roundtable will share findings of their study of genderism in the LGBTQQIAA2P community and facilitate discussion of the themes with implications for counselors, counselor educators, and clinical supervisors.

Genderism may be understood as “an ideology that reinforces the negative evaluation of gender nonconformity or incongruence between sex and gender” (Hill & Willoughby, 2005, p. 534). Further, genderism may be similar to the concept of heterosexism. While western culture has operated within traditional binary thought systems and the LGBTQQIA subculture has been subject to these same ideas, affectional orientation and gender identity have also been significantly expanded through greater recognition of nonheterosexuality. Emerging research validates the complexity of affectional orientation and gender identity through the recognition of intersectionality as a more accurate framework. The presenters will discuss findings of their qualitative research study that examined how genderism is experienced within, among, and between members of the LGBTQQIA communities. For the purposes of the study, genderism was defined as bias resulting from a binary view of gender. Responses from ten individuals were analyzed for themes within and across participants using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The findings have implications for counseling practice, counselor education, and considerations for advocacy.

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Counselors are legally and ethically called to provide affirmative services to trans and gender-expansive youth. Counselors, whether working in schools, agencies or private practices, must affirm all clients. This presentation will provide counselors with legal and ethical information and resources for honing skills for supporting gender-expansive youth.

As advocates and leaders, school counselors play a vital role in school communities working for and with transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Learn how the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success can bolster your curriculum planning efforts and promote safe and healthy outcomes for TIG students and with school stakeholders. Discover the mindsets and beliefs about TIG student success, and engage your school community in creating an inclusive and welcoming culture. After attending this session, you should be able to: 1) Discuss the risk and protective factors among TIG students. 2) Explain the rationale for curriculum material use with TIG students. 3) Integrate the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors to TIG youth in school counseling core curriculum and across various school settings. 4) Examine your school counseling program and share inclusive curriculum resources.

School counselors face challenges to providing optimal support to LGBTQ students who are at an increased risk for mental health and academic challenges. This presentation will offer strategies for training school counselors as advocates and allies. The presenters will incorporate research that they have each conducted, including a video interview segment of first-year school counselors describing systemic challenges they have faced. Presenters will propose a model for addressing systemic barriers based on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory and the ACA Advocacy Competencies.

Although core counseling processes are necessary for working with LGBTQ individuals, they are not sufficient. Given unique concerns, needs, and experiences across the lifespan, specialized awareness, knowledge and skills are needed for effective counseling service delivery for this diverse population. Awareness of personal and societal values as well as homoprejudice will be explored. Sexual and gender identity models, ethical and systemic issues, and unique LGBTQ concerns (including within group diversity) will be discussed. Through various activities, emphasis will be on skill development of appropriate counseling and systemic intervention strategies with respect to various counselor work settings (schools, agencies, higher education).