8:30-9:30 AM
Supporting LGBTQIA+ Youth Experiencing Political Trauma: Counseling and Advocacy Strategies is a 60-minute session for counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists focused on understanding and addressing the psychological impact of sociopolitical stressors on LGBTQIA+ youth. It introduces political trauma, or distress caused by political rhetoric, policies, and systems that threaten identity, safety, and access to care, and explores how current issues like school policies and gender-related legislation affect youth mental health.
Grounded in Minority Stress Theory and trauma-informed care, the session examines how these stressors contribute to chronic stress, identity invalidation, and layered challenges across schools, families, and communities. Participants will learn practical, evidence-based strategies including identity-affirming counseling, coping skills, and safety planning, while identifying protective factors such as supportive relationships and inclusive environments.
The program also emphasizes ethical advocacy, offering ways clinicians can support youth through school collaboration and community engagement. Additionally, it addresses moral injury among helping professionals and provides strategies for resilience and sustainable practice.
Overall, the session equips clinicians and supervisors with tools, frameworks, and advocacy strategies to better support LGBTQIA+ youth navigating political trauma.
9:40-10:40 AM
Coping as Survival: Understanding Risk and Protective Strategies Among LGBTQIA+ Youth is a 60-minute session for counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists focused on suicide risk and coping in LGBTQIA+ youth. It explores how minority stress, stigma, and hostile environments increase mental health risks while shaping coping strategies related to safety, belonging, and identity.
Grounded in Minority Stress Theory and trauma-informed care, the session reframes behaviors often labeled “maladaptive," such as withdrawal, substance use, and self-injury, as potential survival strategies. Participants will learn to recognize the protective functions of these behaviors within youths’ lived contexts.
The program offers practical, affirming interventions including identity-affirming counseling, collaborative safety planning, coping-skill development, and family engagement when appropriate. It also highlights protective factors like supportive relationships and inclusive environments.
Additionally, the session emphasizes advocacy, systems awareness, and ethical considerations related to safety, autonomy, and confidentiality. Overall, it equips clinicians and supervisors with tools and frameworks to support resilience and provide culturally responsive care for LGBTQIA+ youth.
10:50-11:50 AM
Fostering Queer Joy and Resilience in Development: Today’s divergent and expansive generations are navigating an unprecedented wave of legislative attacks and erasure. For LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults, the developmental impacts are crucial for providers to understand and monitor. This session begins by grounding participants in the socio-political context shaping the lives of queer youth today, examining how discrimination and legislative attacks intersect with identity formation, mental health, and development across childhood and young adulthood.
From there, the session shifts — intentionally and substantively — toward queer joy. Drawing on desire-based frameworks and a celebratory lens, participants will explore how centering joy, culture, and community can serve as direct avenues of support and resistance. Rather than positioning queer youth solely as vulnerable or at-risk, this session invites practitioners to also see them as whole people deserving of spaces that affirm, uplift, and celebrate their identities. The session closes with structured reflection and a practical activity, giving participants time to consider how these frameworks can be woven into their own work and communities.
Presenters:
- Nicolas Smith, LPCC, NCC, LICDC
- Kailey Bradley, LPCC-S, PhD, CCMHC, FT
- Shannon O’Mara, CT
- Mariah Payne, MA, LPCC
Approved for 3 General CE hours
by the Ohio Counseling Association,
Accepted by the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapist Board
