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 focused on the transgender and gender expansive community, friends, families, and allies for support and education. Support group will follow the education portion.

EDUCATION PORTION:

Tools to Create Safe Schools for Gender Diverse Students
with Joel Baum (he/him/his)

This month's conversation will focus on discussing various tools and approaches for working with a gender diverse child's school.

About our presenter:

Joel Baum, MS, (he/him/his) is the Senior Director for Professional Development at Gender Spectrum. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the organization’s education and training efforts. He facilitates trainings, develops curriculum, consults with caregivers and professionals and provides resources in service of a more compassionate understanding of gender and young people. A founding member and Director of Education for the Child and Adolescent Gender Center at UCSF-Benioff Children's Hospital, he is frequently called upon to help institutions think more expansively about the gender diversity of all children and teens, and ways to create more gender inclusive conditions accordingly. An educator for more than thirty years, his career has been marked by a commitment to social justice and equity. First as an award winning middle school science teacher and school leader, he has also served as a school district administrator in Oakland, CA, a school reform coach with the National Equity Project, and a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at California State University, East Bay.

Gender Spectrum seeks to create a gender inclusive world for all children and teens. To accomplish this, we engage others in exploring evolving understandings of gender and considering the implications for the work they do with youth and the constellation of adults who support them. Through professional development, strategic partnerships and thought leadership, Gender Spectrum is the foremost leader in the field of gender inclusion and support. Working with thousands of professionals, caregivers and youth every year, we envision and seek to create a world in which the gender diversity of every young person is seen, celebrated and respected.

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.