As we find ourselves here at the end of October, we are in the thick of the first semester. The holidays will be here before you know it, so this is your friendly reminder to schedule those IEP meetings with your school team if you have been procrastinating. Today’s topic is how schools and teachers can be more supportive in providing appropriate gender-affirming care for students. Join us!

We are joined by Erin Pollard, LMFT, LPCC, an academic administrator at the community college level in CA. She focuses therapy work almost exclusively with trans, non-binary, questioning, and gender-expansive people. Before her five years in her current position, she worked as a teacher and counselor in private practice. Her previous work at a community mental health clinic brought experience working with a population of first-generation, low-income immigrants. 

Show Highlights:

• What it means to provide “gender-affirming care”
• How you can use the PBS World Gender Map to learn more about “third gender cultures” around the world
• How school board policies against gender-affirming care can damage a child’s self-esteem, competence, and relationship with their parents
• How trans identities are normal and not born out of trauma, abuse, or pedophilia
• How just ONE supportive adult can drastically reduce the suicide risk for an LGBTQ+ young person
• How our simple words can make a child feel accepted 
• The trends Erin sees in gender-affirming policies at the state level
• What trans kids are asking for in being accepted and affirmed
• How to become involved in advocacy efforts in your corner of the world

Links/Resources:

Connect with Erin Pollard: Website and Email

Contact us on social media or through our website for more information on the IEP Learning Center, and send us your questions for Nadia Bennett for a future episode: www.inclusiveeducationproject.org   

Thank you for listening! 

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