Education Allies Training

This training recognizes the critical importance educators and youth serving professionals play in the lives of youth and the impact they can have as support people for LGBTQ+ students and colleagues. We strive to make sure each training is led by three facilitators; educators who are already implementing strategies to make safe spaces, people who belong to LGBTQ+ communities and can speak to their experience in educational settings, and/or allies of LGBTQ+ communities. With a range of facilitators, participants are exposed to a variety of viewpoints and perspectives with input directly from community members. The training space is designed to be a safe space to ask questions, engage and learn from each other in addition to the facilitators. 

Educators are not all alike. We understand that people have different levels of experience and comfort with LGBTQ+ populations and teach a variety of different ages and subjects. Thus, we guide conversation and invite participants into the conversations to help identify biases and work to be more welcoming to all. 

The training is broken into several pieces:

  1. Approximately 15 minutes of pre-training work before each session

  2. Six hours of in-person training broken into three, two-hour sections. Each section builds upon previous learning, incorporates practice scenarios and facilitates brainstorming sessions to share ideas amongst educators. Read about our section topics:

  • Part 1 focuses on building a groundwork of understanding by…

    • Clarifing common vocabulary relevant to working with LGBTQ+ youth and colleagues

    • Exploring correct pronoun usage including how to ask for pronouns and correcting mistakes in usage

    • Discussing best practices for creating an inclusive classroom

  • Picking up from Part 1, Part 2 strengthens ally development through…

    • Identifying educational and health disparities experienced by LGBTQ+ youth

    • Teaching intervention strategies for dealing with homophobic and/or transphobic behavior

    • Examining strategies to address pushback from administration, parents, and the community at large

  • Expanding from Part 2, Part 3 helps each educators deepen their awareness of their own biases and explores the impacts of intersectionality through….

    • Facilitation of activities around microaggressions and how they can adversely affect student outcomes

    • Exploring implicit biases and how to overcome them to treat all students equitably

    • Examining the impacts of intersectional identities and how to honor and support the multiple identities each unique individual has

    • Creating individual goals for future allyship work

3. Ongoing support through quarterly email updates and available one on one help to answer questions.

We are happy to work with schools or other educational facilities to set a schedule for training that works best for you – whether that be during the typical workday, evenings, or on a weekend. 

We also offer public trainings for anyone working in any healthcare/educational setting. Click the link below to view our upcoming trainings calendar. This calendar only includes trainings that are open to the public, and does not indicate our availability for private trainings.

If you are interested in learning more about this training, or bringing it to your staff, please contact Shawn Reagor, LGBTQ+ Allies Coordinator, at sreagor@bridgercare.org.