Want to know HOW TO support your LGBTQIA+ KIDS AT ANY AGE? JOIN US FOR OUR 2024 Virtual Transgender + Gender Expansive Speaker Series!
Attend 1,2, or all 3 in the series! RSVP Required. Send us a DM or email us at RSVP@PFLAGMANHATTANBEACH.ORG to receive the meeting links. As always, support groups will follow the education portion.
We are currently holding our Transgender + Gender Expansive Support Group meetings virtually. Our meetings are supported by an easy-to-use online meeting tool called Zoom. CLICK HERE to get set-up with Zoom.
Wednesday, FebRUARY 21st, 2024 - 7-9p PT
Setting Your Transgender Young Adult Up for Social/Emotional Success
with Christine MacInnis (she/her), LMFT
You have found the tools to support your transgender child through their transition but now they need to launch themselves out into the rest of the world! Where do you find community, supportive workplaces, LGBTQIA+ affirming spaces, and meet new friends? Let’s talk about launching our Transgender young adult!
ABOUT OUR PRESENTER
Christine MacInnis is a licensed marriage and family therapist in CA, OH, and AZ and owns Transcends Family Therapy in Torrance, CA. Her practice focuses on the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ and Neurodivergent individuals, couples, and families. She is also trauma-informed and is an EMDRIA-certified EMDR therapist, consultant, and trainer. She loves to train folks on Neurodiversity Affirming EMDR and LGBTQIA+ practices.
Find Christine Online HERE
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK
Wednesday, March 20th, 2024 - 7-9p PT
The Intersection of Neurodiversity and Gender Diversity
with Rebecca Niederlander (she/her)
In this presentation Rebecca Niederlander will discuss the intersection of neurodiversity and gender diversity, making connections to giftedness and chronic illness.
ABOUT OUR PRESENTER
Rebecca Niederlander (she/her) is an artist, essayist, curator, health advocate, and accomplice. Among a lifetime of boards and volunteerism, Niederlander is currently on the board of Transforming Family and on the Community Advisory Board for the UMASS Boston study Experiences of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse youth with mental health provider assessment for access to gender-affirming care. She presented on chronic illness in the gifted community at the 2023 and 2024 Gift-A-Palooza, and the 2023 SENG national conventions, as well as presenting on allyship to the gender diverse people in your life at the 2023, 2022 and 2021 SENG Conference. In the early 2000s, she founded a therapy dog program at the Sycamores Home for boys that she ran for five years. She co-authored Just Listen: Affirming Strategies for Supporting Gifted Transgender Youth for NAGC’s Parenting for High Potential. Her artwork has been shown internationally including the acclaimed Venice (Italy) Biennale. Niederlander’s 2013 TEDtalk is “The Art of the Journey.”
Find Rebecca Online HERE
INSTAGRAM
LINKEDIN
Wednesday, April 17th 2024 - 7-9p PT
Acknowledging Our Biases
with Shea Hultquist (they/them), LMFT
Where did we first learn about trans people, and how are those messages affecting our relationships with our trans loved ones? In this Workshop, we will explore where and when we received our biases about trans folks and what to do about it now.
ABOUT OUR PRESENTER
Shea Hultquist (they/them) is a queer, non-binary licensed marriage and family therapist and runs The Unfolding Therapy Practice in Orange County. [They received their master’s degree in counseling from California State University Fullerton with an award for academic excellence and completed their undergraduate work at Cornell University, earning a BA in Biology.
Shea was trained as a therapist at several gender affirming practices and organizations, including Beach Cities LGBT Therapy, The LGBTQ Center Orange County, and Open Door Center for Integrative Healing.
In addition to their clinical work, they lecture and facilitate workshops with Orange County and Los Angeles area PFLAG groups, school districts, and in clinical settings.
Shea's own experience as a non-binary queer parent inspires them to support parents in ways they wished their own parents had been supported when they came out. Shea is the parent of three teens/young adults in Orange County and loves hockey, taking their dogs to the dog park, and Star Wars.
A NOTE ABOUT VIRTUAL MEETINGS:
We will be utilizing Zoom features that provide the highest level of safety and confidentiality possible. Zoom is free to you and you need not have an account to join us. If you are new to Zoom, you can follow the links [here] for brief tutorials on all you need to know to sign on to a Zoom meeting with us. We ask that each of you that would like to participate in the on-line support, contact us in advance by email at rsvp@pflagmanhattanbeach.org to RSVP for the meeting. We will cut off RSVPs at 5 p.m. on the day of the meeting. All participants will receive a follow-up email with the link to the Zoom call and a password. For confidentiality’s sake, please do not forward these to another participant — they are welcome to contact us directly to receive the link.
We recognize that youth may be interested in the educational part of this meeting and they are welcome to join us. As usual, we ask that youth who may want to stick around for our support groups be joined by a parent. Some heavy emotions can emerge in the course of our sessions and having a parent on-hand helps to ensure that the needs of any youth on the call are met.
There are some benefits to utilizing new tools like Zoom. We recognize that our typical evening support group meetings are not feasible for everyone due to work, family or other demands. If there is a need, we would like to offer an additional support group Zoom conference call sometime during the daytime hours. If you are interested in a daytime support group, email us at info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org and let us know what times might be more workable for you.
If you need more personalized assistance and support, we remain here for you. Email us confidentially and we will work with you to identify the best member of our team to assist with your individual needs.