Advance your skills in providing affirming therapy or education experiences for transgender individuals and become a stronger advocate for Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, Gender Expansive and Non-Binary (TGNCNB) people.
We are committed to improving and relaunching this training program in 2023. Stay tuned!
Most programs lack comprehensive training for offering affirmative services for Transgender, Gender Non-conforming, Gender Expansive and Non-binary (TGNCNB) people. Due to this gap in training, Transgender and Gender Expansive communities struggle to find mental health services and education that fits their needs and affirms who they are.
To address this need, Widener has developed two advanced training programs, one for education professionals and one for mental health providers, to support the TGNCNB community.
This program is intended to provide school counselors, administrators, educators, and other school staff the necessary tools to become gender champions in their school and community. The program is specifically tailored to effectively support K–12th grade students throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
In this program, you'll learn from a skilled facilitator with extensive experience in creating affirming learning environments for transgender and gender non-conforming youth. You'll learn how to support individual students in their gender development, implement supportive school policy, and create affirming school and classroom environments.
As part of the program, you can expect to:
Samantha King, MSW, MEd (she/her) is the family support and education specialist at the Gender & Sexuality Development Clinic at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Through this role, Samantha provides direct resources to families and supports gender expansive youth in school and community settings. Samantha collaborates with educators and providers to raise their awareness of gender identity and works to improve gender inclusivity through trainings and policy support. Over the past six years, Samantha King has worked with 250+ schools to create affirming learning environments for hundreds of transgender and gender non-binary youth.
Participants must work in some aspect of K–12 education in a Pennsylvania school.
The application process will reopen in 2023.
Scholarships have been created to assure that this training increases the number of education professionals who can provide affirming experiences for transgender students in Pennsylvania and that people of color and TGNCNB education professionals are among those doing this work. Education professionals who are people of color and/or TGNCNB are encouraged to apply for a scholarship for this program.
To apply for a scholarship, please include a 250-word statement sharing your personal connection to the goals of the program and how you plan to use this training in your profession.
The essay should be submitted as supplemental material as part of your online application.
Over the yearlong training, mental health providers can expect to:
Incorporate training into practice of affirmative therapy and exceptional care for TGNCNB clients
Attend a series of training days either in-person or online. Your choice! See Program Format & Dates for details. Participants must be available to attend ALL of the listed dates and times in the program they choose (except for the bonus day).
Participate in 30 hours of online group supervision
Receive monthly readings that will build TGNCNB knowledge base and skills
Build community with other TGNCNB affirmative providers
Collaborate on an ever-expanding resource database for TGNCNB affirmative services
Earn social work CEUs, in collaboration with the Center for Social Work Education
To be determined for 2023
See a list of the program instructors for the affirmative therapy for transgender communities program.
The application process will reopen in 2023.
Scholarships have been created to assure that these trainings increase the number of therapists who are greatly needed in our community of support professionals. Therapists who are part of the following communities are encouraged to apply:
To be considered for a scholarship, please submit a 250-word essay sharing your personal connection to this work, your therapy role/goals, and how you will use this training to achieve your therapy/treatment goals.
The essay should be submitted as supplemental material as part of your online application.
These training programs provide a strong foundation of knowledge in the areas of Transgender and Gender Expansive identity development and TGNCNB advocacy so that you can better apply this knowledge in your profession.
These programs bring together leaders in the field and community to generate a dynamic training and supervision program. Expert instructors will lead the trainings and provide on-going online supervision, which is scheduled at times that are convenient for your schedule.
We look forward to working with you and building up a community of TGNCNB affirming providers, educators, and advocates.
501 E 13th Street
Hyatt Hall, Office #320