The South Southwest MHTTC is pleased to host this virtual training Creating Affirming Environments for LGBTQ People Receiving Services for Texas Certified Community Behavior Health Clinic (CCBHC) leaders. This is a closed event. If you have questions, please contact [email protected].
This virtual training provides an overview of terms, concepts, and identities that people working in the behavioral health field should know to provide affirming services and cultivate an affirming environment for LGBTQ people.
A 2018 report from the Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, titled Peers in Research: Interventions for Developing LGBTQ-Affirmative Behavioral Health Services in Texas, showed that most providers in Texas do not hold overtly prejudicial attitudes toward LGBTQ clients. However, the report found that most providers either lack the knowledge and skills to provide appropriate care to LGBTQ clients or are not aware of the importance of LGBTQ- affirming care.
Specifically offered for CCBHC leadership, this training aims to bridge the gap many providers feel by offering basic information, resources, and guidance for people working in behavioral health agencies on how to support LGBTQ people receiving services.
Darcy Kues, JD, is a Project Manager with the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center and the Addiction Research Institute, where she writes curricula focused on peer support and recovery services. She has over 7 years of experience in curriculum development, grant writing, and program coordination for peer support services and recovery-oriented behavioral health. Darcy has developed trainings on reentry peer support, youth and young adult peer support, trauma responsiveness, peer support supervision, LGBTQ affirming services, and more. She is committed to building a world where recovery and lived experience are centered at every level of decision-making.
Mx. Shane Whalley, MSSW, received hir Masters degree in Social Work from the The University of Texas Steve Hicks School of Social work in 2003. Shane is the founder of Daring Dialogues Consulting. Ze is a deeply relational and playful genderqueer facilitative educator, who has been facilitating workshops and conversations on issues faced by the LGBTQIA communities, cultural humility and responsiveness and social justice frameworks for over 20 years. Hir knowledge comes from hir lived experience as a now elder within the genderqueer and queer communities. Shane has also been the Community Coordinator for the Office of Equity at Austin Independent School District, the Education Coordinator for the Gender and Sexuality Center at The University of Texas at Austin and has worked at several mental health nonprofits in Austin. Shane enjoys engaging in conversations around the complexities of “all the things” whether as a mentor, consultant, or educator.
