Training

FORGE staff frequently have the pleasure of being invited to speak or present workshops at key national transgender, aging, and sexual assault/domestic violence conferences.

We are welcome the opportunity to provide quality, culturally-specific training to a wide variety of professionals who regularly work with transgender clients, as well as those who are new to transgender issues and seek greater cultural competency.

We are available for hosting customized trainings (your location or ours) on many topics related to core transgender issues, anti-violence, and/or transgender (or LGBT) aging. Contact us for more details.

Some of our more popular trainings include:

Transgender Survivors: Statistics, Stories, Strategies for Providers

This interactive and fast-paced workshop will encourage participants to expand their transgender vocabulary and conceptual framework(s), specifically in how they apply to transgender sexual assault, domestic violence, and/or hate violence survivors.  Attendees will increase their ability to fluidly and respectfully interact with and serve transgender survivors and loved ones.  Topics will include prevalence rates, barriers to accessing services, and unique issues facing transgender survivors and service providers.  Participants will leave with practical steps that will assist them in modifying existing policies and procedures, identifying and lowering barriers to service, and improving effective services to transgender survivors and loved ones.

Anti-Transgender Hate Crimes and Sexual Assaults: Compounding Variables and Best Practices for Community/Professional Response

Anti-transgender hate violence, particularly when it is coupled with sexual assault, presents complex and compounded challenges for both victims and services providers.  Hate violence sends a strong message to LGBTQ people, often crumbling a community’s sense of safety and rendering them powerless and vulnerable. To be effective, service providers must be able to appreciate and respond to the various levels and meanings hate violence carries.

Through a blend of didactic and experiential modalities, national statistics on anti-transgender hate violence and sexual assault will be presented, highlighting where anti- LGBTQ violence overlaps with and differs from anti-transgender crimes. Many LGBTQ people face substantial bias because they belong to other traditionally marginalized groups along other axes of identity such as race, class, incarceration history, immigration status, or ability. Membership in more than one marginalized community can dramatically increase targeting for severe violence. A special focus on transgender victims, trends, heightened risks and narratives will be a driving force throughout the workshop. Come prepared to be engaged and interactively participate!

Services Outside the Box: Helping Your Clients Navigate Sex-Segregated Services

In an ideal world, every client would have access to ANY medical and mental health service they need. Unfortunately, many services are sex-segregated, which creates additional barriers to clients (and providers). This didactic and interactive workshop will examine how to creatively advocate for and with your clients around services such as sexual assault / domestic violence support groups and housing, OB/GYN/urology appointments, forms and policy management, referrals and networking. Providers will leave new solutions to old problems — benefitting their clients and their field.

Serving Gender Variant Crime Victims: Transgender 101

Faced with a crime victim who is visibly gender variant or who describes themselves as transgender, many professionals feel confused, curious, or worried, and consequently alienate and/or offend the victim by asking inappropriate or offensive questions. This workshop is designed to: 1) Demystify who is under the “transgender umbrella”; 2) Enumerate the various “components” of being transgender; 3) Discuss which components are and are not relevant to the various roles crime victim professionals play; and 4) Disseminate resources to support transgender crime victims and the professionals who serve them. Additional experiential exercises will help participants understand the personal, interpersonal, and social dimensions of being transgender.

Mapping the Transgender Experience: A guide for providers

Faced with a crime victim who is visibly gender variant or identifies as transgender, many professionals are unsure of how to respectfully provide serves. This workshop will demystify who is under the “transgender umbrella”; enumerate transgender “components”; discuss which components are/are not relevant to professionals; and provide ample resources.

“When I’m Sixty Four” Transgender Aging and Sexuality

In our culture, most people don’t think about sexuality when they think about aging. This workshop will review transgender aging sexuality data from two national surveys and discuss the implications of how aging intersects with sex, body image, physical bodily changes, trauma histories, dating, libido, long-term relationships, health, disclosure, sexual orientation shifts, cultural expectations, and more. Interactive exercises throughout the workshop will encourage participants to examine their own thoughts and feelings about trans-aging and sexuality, as well as deepen their knowledge of the subject.

Soothing the soul through words, images, and experiential learning

This workshop is a dynamic, interactive, experiential, and reflective space that encourages and allows participants to transform feelings about personal or global loss, trauma, or life-hardships into empowered hope. Attendees – in a structured, safe, creative setting – will use writing, art, and movement exercises to address topics that impact us all. Participants will leave with a renewed sense of hope, community, and connection with themselves and with others. All materials provided, but feel free to bring your favorite healing journals and tools. No experience necessary.

LIST COMMON WORKSHOPS – LINK w/ ANCHORS to Trainings offered page

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Consulting

Some agencies and individual professionals find that they need specific assistance that is not addressed within the context of most workshops (or they can’t wait until the next conference for an answer). FORGE staff can work with you on short or long term projects/goals and help you find solutions to sometimes complex problems. Contact us for more details of how we can be of assistance to you.

Technical Assistance

In addition to formal trainings (at your location or ours) or larger scale consulting, FORGE provides ongoing technical assistance by phone (414.559.2123) and email (AskFORGE [at] forge-forward [dot] org).

Conferences

You will find FORGE staff at many transgender conferences around the country, at LGBT and “mainstream” aging conferences, at sexual assault / domestic violence conferences, or at special one-time events. Visit our sample workshop page <LINK> or consult the national event calendar <LINK> to see which conference we’ll be presenting at next.