Allies in Authenticity: Working with Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SO/GI) in supportive and culturally informed ways.

As the alphabet soup of ‘LGBT’ has expanded over the past few years to contain more nuanced forms of identity and expression, the terms SO/GI, or GSM (Gender and Sexual Minorities) has become popular. How do we best support young people who are developmentally exploring and experiencing many and varied aspects of themselves, while embedded in larger care systems that also include straight identified peers, as well as parents, caregivers, and others?

In this 3 hour seminar, we will look at some of the changing and expanding definitions of identity, and their implications for us as therapists, counselors, guides, and teachers. We will also look at ways to talk openly and adeptly with our clients and family members, as well as addressing issues of confidentiality. Identifying and calling out micro-aggressions is an important position of the ally, and involves an understanding of the impacts of intersectionality on cultural standing and power. 

CE Credits: You can earn 3 CE credits.

By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

1. Expand one’s understanding of the rapidly shifting and expanding identities many young people are using to frame and honor their experience.

2. Look more closely at the concept of intersectionality, especially as it relates to and informs the experience of growing up in multiple marginalized communities.

3. Explore what it means to be an ‘Ally’ and how to work from that model more effectively for everyone.

4. Discuss how these identity themes are also part of wider family and cultural systems, and how to work with all participants with care and respect.

About the Trainer Jeanna Eichenbaum, LCSW

Jeanna Eichenbaum, LCSW is a psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco, specializing in issues of alternative sexuality and relationship models such as open and poly relationships, LGBTQ+ support and exploration, couples therapy, trauma and PTSD recovery, spirituality, and the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. She currently provides on-going training and consultation on LGBTQ Culturally Competency issues to organizations. Prior, she was the Team Leader of the Substance Abuse Day Hospital at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in San Francisco.

She has served as Project Director of the TRANS Project at UCSF, where she ran a neighborhood resource center for transgender and gender-variant people, as well as several research projects. She was the Manager and co-creator of the Transgender Recovery Project at Walden House, the first residential drug treatment program in the United States to specifically target the transgender community.