Support Group for Families of Transgender Youth: Ages 15-20

Type of Workshop:

Interactive Activity

Who is the intended audience?:

Family Members

Workshop Topic:

Parenting Gender Variant Youth

Do you want to restrict the attendance of this workshop to a specific group?:

Attendance Restricted

If restricted, who is welcome to attend?:

any close family member or significant figure in a trans childs life, all kinds of families are welcome

Description:

Parents and family members of trans youth are welcome to join this support group and share common experiences and concerns in a safe and welcoming space. We will share our journeys, and family members can receive information that addresses the needs of this age range specifically. Facilitators will touch on family dynamics, embracing your trans child, getting the best resources, common school concerns and other issues that come up for the group. Join us to share the complexities and joys of raising a transgender child. Open to all kinds of families. Facilitated by the Trans Youth Equality Foundation, founded by the parent of a trans child. Based in New England, this organization serves transgender children and youth ages 2-18 through advocacy, education ,school trainings, and one on one and group support for families and youth.

**These ages are approximate. Please feel free to join us if your child is outside these ages ranges if this is the only time slot you can make. You will find the session supportive and beneficial.

Conference Year:

2012

Time slot:

2 June 4:00pm - 5:20pm

Room:

106A

First Presenter

Susan Maasch

Susan Maasch is the Executive Director of the Trans Youth Equality Foundation. She is also a mother of a trans child now 15. Susan has given workshops on subjects ranging from The Transgender Child 101 to school specific trainings. She has led numerous support groups for youth and for parents. She has organized talks with Dr. Norman Spack , the foundation's medical advisor to the board. She has also presented a talk for parents at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and the Fenway Clinic, among others. The Trans Youth Equality Foundation holds several youth retreats in New England and kids have come from all over the country to participate in these fun, adventurous and educational experiences. Susan studied family and child counseling many years ago in grad school, but left the field to become an art curator and avid gardener. She is inspired to do this work by all the incredible transgender children she has met.

Second Presenter

E. Guthrie Conyngham

Guthrie is a rural-raised, trans/ queer identified person living in Portland, Maine. They are currently an intern and Director of Youth Education at the Trans Youth Equality Foundation, where they have helped design and implement school training curriculum, organized seasonal retreats, and has had the honor of working with many great kids and parents. They hold a degree from Hampshire College, at which they researched and wrote a thesis concerning the experience of LGBT/ Queer identified individuals living in rural places throughout the United States.