Growing up Transgender

In this single-day seminar, we will explore what it means to be transgender. Health and human services professionals will learn the difficulties people who are transgender face and how we can best support and advocate for the transgender community.

Who Should Attend

Health care professionals, counselors, social workers, educators, guidance counselors, school psychologists, and anyone interested in learning more about the transgender community.

Program Description

Learn what it means to truly be inclusive and understanding 

There are hundreds of thousands of transgender people in the United States. According to the Oxford dictionary, the word transgender can be defined as a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex. There is no doubt that mass media has helped to bring awareness of people who are transgender, but there is much to learn about the challenges transgender people face in our communities. How can we best support and understand the needs of people who are transgender? 

Join our experienced presenters as they help us to define, explore and provide a safe space for any questions you have. In this jam-packed and interactive presentation, we will explore the following: 

• The difference between sex and gender, from both a biological and cultural standpoint.
• The transgender legal landscape: current and future challenges.
• The experiences/challenges of transgender youth.
• The role of the Health and Human Services professional in caring/advocating for the transgender community.

Instructors

Christopher Jorgenson currently serves as the director of the Gender & Sexuality Resource Center at UW-Eau Claire. When not on campus, engaged in advocacy work and teaching in the Women's Studies program, he can be seen traveling around the state providing a variety of training program, most notable: Safe Space Training, Sexual Assault Bystander Intervention Training, (Being) Sex and (Doing) Gender: The Difference and Why It Matters, and QPR & Campus Connect suicide prevention gatekeeper training programs. He hails from Wisconsin and California, the latter of which has made him hate winter even more than he already did.

Alexandra Hall, MD, is a family physician with extensive experience in transgender medical care. Trained at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the University of Vermont, she worked for Dean Health Care, Cornell University, and now the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She frequently conducts workshops and trainings for mental and medical health professionals on the care of transgender clients, both on a regional and national level, and has been involved in advocacy for improved access to care as well as appropriate insurance coverage for transgender people.