Last month, to celebrate Pride season, we discussed how to better serve and support LGBTQ+ young people. We had conversations about proper pronoun usage and the spectrums of gender identity and orientation. Join us in July as we continue the conversation of affirming those who identify as LGBTQ+ and share ways to more effectively be an ally in our communities and organizations. We will focus on the coming out process, allyship, and ways to implement safe and inclusive spaces.
These monthly forums are an opportunity to connect with others who share a passion for developmentally appropriate and appealing supports for youth and young adults. Maybe you're a peer support provider or a new professional with lived experience working in mental health advocacy. Whatever your role, if you are a young adult professional seeking to make peer-to-peer connections and develop your professional capacity, this learning community offers a space to learn with other mental health workforce professionals.
We hope you will join us for collective skill-building, engaging conversations, and networking with other young professionals.
This learning community is designed for young professionals working with youth and young adults of transition age.
Kristin has ten years of experience in advocacy and youth leadership and program development with a special focus on the mental health and criminal justice systems. She currently serves as a Youth Program Director, where she is a national technical assistance provider on the development, implementation, and sustainability of quality youth programming and supports organizations develop meaningful and mutual partnerships with youth, young adults, and system leaders to advance best practices for youth engagement. Kristin is an advisor on the System of Care Children’s Mental Health Initiative and supports the implementation of national evaluation efforts by conducting qualitative and quantitative research, utilizing data to determine and define technical assistance needs for grantee communities. Prior to joining Youth MOVE National, Kristin was the Continuous Quality Improvement Coordinator for Maine’s System of Care. In this role, she offered technical assistance, training, and consultation to government agencies, providers, and communities on incorporating and embedding trauma-informed principles and practices and developing a youth guided system. Kristin has utilized her own lived experience, passion, and expertise in the field of positive youth development to bridge multiple perspectives to promote trauma-informed approaches to recovery.
Te Jay brings many years of professional and lived experience to the Youth MOVE team. Not only has he directly served and supported many types of young adults, especially those experiencing homelessness, he has also worked on policy changes when it comes to LGBTQ+ initiatives, anti-bullying efforts, and public health inequities. Te Jay has been performing all around southern California as his drag persona, Tia Wanna, for over 9 years. Originally from Hawaii, Te Jay is a Korean American who now resides in Los Angeles, which he has called home for over a decade.
