We are currently holding our PFLAG 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.
Join us for our regular monthly meeting welcoming the entire spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community, friends, families, and allies for support and education. Our regular support group will follow the education portion.
Please RSVP to info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org
EDUCATION PORTION:
PFLAG Parenting: Disrupting Gender Bias
with Alison Wood, LMFT, ATR-BC (she/her/hers)
This meeting's focus:
“Take it like a man.” “Sit like a lady.” “Pink is a girl color.” “Blue is a boy color.” We receive subtle and (not so subtle) messages about gender that impact our ideas, behaviors and family roles. These messages can become unnoticed biases that we reinforce to our kids, affecting their development and sense of identity. Curious about how we, as PFLAG parents, can disrupt gender biases in our own homes? Alison Wood (she/her/hers), LMFT, ATR-BC presents some ideas about how to break down the binary and disrupt the bias when addressing gender and identity in our families.
About our presenter:
Alison Wood is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Board Certified & Registered Art Therapist working in private practice at South Bay Therapy Works. Alison grew up in Manhattan Beach and has worked in the LGBTQ+ community as an advocate, case manager, counselor and psychotherapist in both New York City and Los Angeles for over 20 years. Since 2007, Alison has been providing relational, attachment-based, LGBTQ+ affirmative psychotherapy to youth and adults. Alison is a mom of two and proud bisexual. As a board member, facilitator, and member of PFLAG Manhattan Beach / South Bay chapter, Alison hopes to contribute to creating a more empathic, gender affirming, culturally humble, LGBTQ+ celebrating, and radically accepting world..
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 info@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.