Very often mental health professionals are not feeling prepared by their graduate programs to work with trans and gender expansive (TGE) people. With numerous gender identities, changing terminology, and recent scientific discoveries surrounding gender, it is incredibly important that counselors continue to stay up to date. New and seasoned professionals alike must continue to develop awareness and understanding of TGE clients, as well as strategies and skills for a trans-affirmative counseling practice. This workshop will help any mental health professional start their journey towards competence in working with this population.

Due to multiple worldviews, gender biases, and more, Transgender and Gender-expansive (TGE) individuals often face many obstacles in their career development. As ASCA calls for school counselors to address the career needs of all students, this presentation highlights the challenges of the TGE community and offers resources and practical applications for school counselors to assist TGE students with their post-secondary and career transitions.

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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.

While there are many calls to maintain Catholic values in National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) and (arch)diocesan standards for Catholic school leaders, there is still a lack of guidance on operationalized support for gender-expansive students. This lack of clarity hinders the ability of leaders of Catholic schools to support and accompany gender-expansive students in their schools. This lack of guidance results in unclear leadership, which can adversely affect the well-being of gender-expansive students in Catholic schools. This qualitative study explored the experiences of principals and presidents of Catholic high schools in the United States as they work with gender-expansive students and their families. It was conducted through semi-structured interviews of six principals and two presidents, who were asked questions about their practices working with gender-expansive students, the ways of proceeding they use or plan to use in these conversations, and the barriers they face to supporting these individuals institutionally. Findings revealed three themes: (a) cura personalis versus cura apostolica, (b) individualized approach versus institutional consistency, and (c) individual values and beliefs versus institutional values and beliefs. Findings suggested that individual school communities need to engage in thoughtful dialogue to define a way of proceeding. Overarching policies mandated from the top down will face barriers to implementation. At the same time, it is essential to proactively engage in the work of defining organizational values and beliefs when it comes to gender inclusivity. It is not enough to handle it on a case-by-case basis, relying on students and families to tell you what they need.

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Often play therapists are faced with challenges when working with caregivers of transgender and gender expansive children. We are legally and ethically called to provide affirmative services and support. This presentation assists in developing skills for supporting all clients in play therapy

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