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.

This presentation focused on research that evaluates and examines the impact of Safe Space trainings on competency levels of a sample of school counselors/ school counselor trainees. Dr. Byrd also explored the relationship between LGBTQ competency and awareness of sexism and heterosexism in order to determine the effectiveness of Safe Space trainings.

No description available.

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.

No description available.

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.

No description available.

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.