LGBT Health Conference to Feature Califia-Rice

[COLUMBUS, OH] - "Creating and Sustaining LGBT Affirming Services" is the focus of the annual A Matter of Pride Conference organized by Amethyst, Inc/Women's Outreach for Women, Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), Columbus Health Department, Southeast, Inc., and Stonewall Columbus. The conference is offered each year to educate mental health, substance abuse, and social service providers and consumers about issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people.

"We all serve LGBT clients," said Amy Crawford, conference coordinator and Program Director for Women's Outreach for Women. "Education on issues affecting this community is a crucial part of effective service provision."

Patrick Califia-Rice, San Francisco based author and therapist, will present the keynote address entitled "Beyond Gatekeeping: Improving Mental Health and Social Services for Transgendered People." Califia is a 47-year-old transman, who, under the name Pat Califia, is a well-known author of several books about queer sex and politics. Califia will also present a workshop on "Working with Sexual Minority Clients."

This year's workshop selections will be offered along three separate tracks to address the needs of attendees with various interests and levels of experiences. The three tracks include: Introductory LGBT Issues, Advanced LGBT Issues, and School/ Youth Issues. The workshops cover a multitude of issues, including counseling approaches with GLBT youth, homophobia in the workplace, and developmental issues related to coming out.

In the introductory track, Ray Irion of Southeast, Inc. will discuss clinical issues in counseling chemically dependent LGBT persons; Regina Sewell will explore homophobia in the workplace; and Chatman Lee Neely of West Virginia will present on multiplicity: developmental issues of coming out as gay or lesbian.

In the advanced track, featured keynote speaker, Patrick Califia, will lead a session on working with sexual minority clients; and evaluating LBGT services in prevention, treatment, and socials service settings will be presented by Kim Raderstorf.

Along the School/Youth track, Jim Broyles will present counseling approaches for GLBT youth; Erich Merkle of Kent State University will discuss supporting the children of LGBT families in educational settings, and Jim Ryan will be facilitating a workshop on alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use prevention plans for LGBT youth.

A Matter of Pride was established to create and sustain an affirming environment in social service systems for LGBT people in Central Ohio. Additional sponsors include the Franklin County ADAMH Board, the Ohio Psychological Association, PFLAG Columbus, and Joseph Shannon, Ph.D., Psychologist and Associates.

The conference will be held on Friday, June 21 at Franklin County Veterans Memorial, 300 West Broad Street. CEU's and BRCH's will be available. For registration information, check out the website at http://www.geocites.com/amopconference/index.html or call Women's Outreach for Women at . The registration deadline is June 7, 2002.