Welcome to the cohort webpage!

Engaging and Supporting Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) Youth and Their Families in a Clinical Setting - 2022 Learning Collaborative


Thank you for your interest in the "Engaging and Supporting TGD Youth and Families in the Clinical Setting", a learning collaborative hosted by the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center.

Access to pediatric gender affirming care for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth is vital to positive mental and physical health outcomes and should be considered part of routine primary care.

The Engaging and Supporting Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) Youth and Their Families in a Clinical Setting - 2022 Learning Collaborative will engage pediatric primary care providers, mental health providers, health center administrators and support staff in establishing welcoming and affirming clinic environments and engaging families in supporting their TGD children, with the aim of improving health outcomes. Providers will learn best practices for serving the families of TGD youth, and strategies for successfully responding to a variety of family and patient needs and priorities.


Learning Collaborative Objectives

As a result of participating in this program, I will:

  • Learn well-researched methods of delivering high-quality, culturally affirming care for TGD youth.

  • Discover effective methods and tools to improve programming for screening, treating, preventing health disparities and supporting families.

  • Build relationships with other organizations that will facilitate peer learning experiences and discover resources for training implementation.

  • Collaborate with peers and expert facilitators to identify and implement best practices in care.


Structure of the curriculum

The curriculum will include information on affirming care for TGD youth. Each session will include a short didactic presentation, with time for questions. Participants will also connect with other health centers through the use of breakout rooms and other interactive training activities to optimize learning.


Evaluation Process

It is critically important for us to evaluate the effectiveness of our program in order to better meet your training and technical assistance needs in the future. Therefore, we will ask each participant to complete a post session evaluation each time we meet.


Session dates/times

· The learning collaborative will convene 1x per week in the month of April, 2022 and take place on Thursdays from 3:00 - 4:30pm EST/ 12:00-1:30pm PST/ 9:00 - 10:30am HST on the following dates:

o April 7th

o April 14th

o April 21st

o April 28th

FACILITATOR

Facilitator


Gina Marie Sequeira, MD, MS (she/her) is an Adolescent Medicine physician and co-director of the Seattle Childrens Gender Clinic. Her research focuses on developing novel telehealth interventions to improve access to gender-affirming care for trans and gender diverse youth.

Tech team

Program Manager


Virginia Vedilago (she/her) is the Program Manager for the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center. In her current role, she is responsible for the Education Center programming including the management of learning initiatives such distance learning and webinars, as well as the coordination of publication reports and training material development and dissemination.

Program Coordinator


Elijah Oyenuga (he/him) is the program coordinator at the Fenway Institute's National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center. As the program coordinator at the Fenway Institute's National LGBTQIA+ Education Center, he continues to advocate by coordinating online provider educational opportunities, ​developing and delivering training and technical assistance initiatives, and evaluating ongoing programming to help Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) across the nation improve health services for LGBTQIA+ people.


Speakers and Session Recordings

SESSION 1:

  • Introduction to the learning collaborative

  • Participant introductions

  • Identification of learning needs

  • Current legislative climate and impact on health and well-being of TGD youth and their families

  • Large group discussion




Mason Dunn (he/they) is the Deputy Director of Education and Training at the Fenway Institute. Mason serves on the Massachusetts LGBTQ Youth Commission and is a board member with the Equality Federation. They are an adjunct faculty member at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, in the Communications Department.


SESSION 1 - WRAP UP

Check out these links and resources mentioned in Session 1!

State Legislation Tracker

Trans Peer Mentor Program

Trans Mentor Project

Camp Aranutiq

Gender Spectrum

PFLAG

Safe folder - Trans Youth Family Allies

SESSION 2:

  • Importance of creating affirming environments in healthcare

  • Best practices for creating affirming environments

  • Tools for providing inclusive pediatric encounters for TGD youth



Dr. Davia Loren (she/her) is an associate professor and clinician-educator at all of our clinical practice sites where she teaches and supports medical students, residents and fellows. Her scholarly work intersects practical medical ethics, quality improvement and communication. She is a principle investigator and co-investigator on several projects studying communication of unanticipated outcomes and disclosure of medical errors.

SESSION 3:

  • Recognize the complexity of challenges that arise in supporting the mental health of TGD youth and their families.

  • Discuss common concerns raised by families in navigating care for their gender diverse child.

  • Apply principles of the gender-affirming therapeutic approach in supporting parents of youth who are questioning gender




Caitlin Sequeira, MSW, LSWAIC (she/her) is a social worker and mental health therapist with the Seattle Children’s Gender Clinic. While working with the Gender Clinic at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, she partnered with medical providers and a community advisory board to develop a peer support program for parents of gender diverse youth. In her current role at Seattle Children’s, Caitlin provides mental health intake assessments for patients and families who are pursuing care with the gender clinic and collaborates with their multidisciplinary team to offer holistic care to trans and gender diverse patients.

SESSION 3 - WRAP UP

SESSION 4:

  • Discuss how care for youth differs from that of patients over 18- consent, use of blockers, confidentiality, family support services

  • Learn strategies for coordination of care and appropriate affirming referrals for TGD youth and their families

  • Discover systems of care that can be applied in the clinical setting for TGD youth and families.




Noah Glick (they/them) is the Youth & Family Coordinator for the Trans Health Program at Fenway Health in Boston, MA. Their role involves supporting trans youth and their families navigating gender affirming care and resources. Their work also centers around supporting the larger trans and gender diverse community by building resources, providing surgery navigation assistance, training and education for professionals, community event planning, and peer support group facilitation.

SESSION 4 - WRAP UP

Affirming Care for Gender Diverse Youth

Risks and Benefits of Puberty Suppression

Risks and Benefits of Estrogen and Spironolactone

Risks and Benefits of Testosterone

Parent/Guardian Consent for Gender Affirming Care

Youth, Parents, & Family Online & Virtual Support Resources

Gender Clinic Patient and Family Resources



Research Article

Questions? Contact us!

Virginia Vedilago: vvedilago@fenwayhealth.org

Elijah Oyenuga: eoyenuga@fenwayhealth.org


Connecting to Community in SESSION

The learning collaborative will be most successful when we come together in community and the best way to facilitate that is for you to join by video. This also helps us minimizes questions about who is speaking, helps us to understand you better by having visual cues to maximize communication, and helps to develop connections in our sessions and beyond.

Thanks so much!

Session Link

For the session link, please email Virginia (vvedilago@fenwayhealth.org)

Zoom ETIQUETTE:

  • Avoid the disclosure of protected health information (PHI).

  • Keep the microphone muted when not speaking, this helps cut down on background noise.

  • Communicate clearly during the session. Identify yourself each time you speak.

  • Adjust camera accordingly, and make eye contact with the camera when you are speaking.

  • Keep video turned on whenever possible, this creates a more collaborative learning atmosphere.

  • Speak clearly and in a conversational tone.

  • Be conscious of group discussion dynamics, and give people time to respond.

  • It is best to turn off your camera and ensure that you are muted if you need to walk to a different location, have a side conversation, or take a phone call.

  • Be aware of body language and expressions, just as if you were sitting in the same room with everyone.

  • Use respectful and inclusive language. If someone is less familiar with a topic that you have more experience with, it is a wonderful opportunity for you to warmly engage in the facilitation of their learning!


If you have any questions or you are having trouble logging on the day of the session, please email vvedilago@fenwayhealth.org