Join us for our regular monthly meeting welcoming the entire spectrum of LGBTQ+ community, friends, families, and allies for support and education. Our regular support group will follow the education portion.
Our PFLAG general support meetings will transition into a HYBRID Meeting Model in May of 2022. Meetings will be held both in person and via Zoom. Please note: all persons who wish to attend our in person meetings must be Fully Vaccinated against Covid-19.
Virtual meetings require RSVP. If you are new to Zoom, CLICK HERE to get set-up.
Please RSVP to rsvp@pflagmanhattanbeach.org
EDUCATION PORTION:
Post-Pandemic Mental health for LGBTQ+ Youth: Where do we go from here?
with Beck Gee-Cohen MA CADC-II (he/him)
This meeting's focus:
It has been a long couple of years, for everyone. The residual and current effects the pandemic is having on our LGBTQ+ youth are undeniable. The uncertainty of what comes next has many families and kids in a swirl of emotions and behaviors. Where are we to go from here? How can we support our young people now that the world is opening up again? These are the questions we will be working through during the first in-person group of the PFLAG meeting in 2 years.
About our presenter:
Beck Gee-Cohen is a master’s level clinician with an undergraduate degree in Sociology with an emphasis on Gender & Sexuality and a master’s degree in Addiction Counseling. Beck has worked in the mental health & substance use field for over 10 years in various capacities. The main focus of his work has been invested in the LGBTQ+ community, adolescents, and families. Over this decade, Beck has trained numerous facilities on LGBTQ+ best practices, has been a keynote and presenter at many conferences, and has facilitated workshops about LGBTQ+, trauma, adolescents, gender, and sexuality.
Beck is the Director of LGBTQ+ Programming at Visions Adolescent Treatment Center. This program is for young people at Visions who identify in the community, those who are questioning, and their families. It includes process groups, psychoeducation, and family programming with professionals specifically trained and experienced in the LGBTQ+ population and best practices. Alongside the already dynamic team at Visions Adolescent Treatment Center in Los Angeles, young LGBTQ+ people and their families will find a space that serves their specific needs in regard to healing and thriving.
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 ask that youth who may want to join for our support groups to please 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.