Mazzoni Center is hosting a pair of workshops this month to provide medical care to transgender and gender-nonconforming patients ahead of the 17th annual Trans Wellness Conference in August.
The two workshops on June 8 and 16 are a part of the “Bridging the Community with Community Partners” learning series introduced by Mazzoni Center in April. The first workshop is for clinicians serving trans and gender-nonconforming patients to create better provider-patient relationships. The second workshop, “More Than Sad,” is available to the public in partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
“The workshops recognize the importance of delivering more competent care and treatment to our LGBTQ communities and will provide opportunities to build and strengthen the relationships between providers, practitioners, educators and the communities they serve,” said Elizabeth Kahn, Mazzoni Center’s director of education.
Kahn partnered with Mazzoni Center special-events manager Ashley Coleman to develop the workshops after previous conference attendees requested year-round access to resources and training. The “More Than Sad” workshop is designed for engagement between medical professionals, educators and the public to support personal growth, self-advocacy and combating despair that leads LGBTQ youth to contemplate suicide.
The “More Than Sad” workshop is the first time that the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is focusing their efforts on LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming youth, Kahn said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2016 that LGBT youth are almost fives times as likely to attempt suicide compared to heterosexual youth.
“[The workshop] is an opportunity for the community to get involved with learning how to support these youths who are in their lives,” Kahn added.
The workshop series is an extension to the Trans Wellness Conference Aug. 2-4, which is open to all medical professionals and to the public. Online registration is required for all attendees.