UWM’s Zilber School of Public Health recently hosted training for more than 50 elementary, middle and high school counselors, social workers and administrators from Wisconsin and Illinois to learn strategies and interventions from the Family Acceptance Project.
The Family Acceptance Project is a research, intervention, education and policy initiative headed by Caitlyn Ryan at San Francisco State University. It works to prevent health and mental health risks for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children and youth – including suicide, homelessness and HIV – in the context of their families, cultures and faith communities.
The training led by Ryan helped school personnel learn how to integrate Family Acceptance Project components into their work with students and their families.
The training was co-sponsored by the American Psychological Association as part of its Safe and Supportive Schools Project and by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and was organized by GSAFE, which supports LGBT+ youth in Wisconsin.
The Family Acceptance Project uses a research-based, culturally grounded approach to help ethnically, socially and religiously diverse families to support their LGBT children. LGBT children who have the support and acceptance of their families are far less likely to experience negative physical and mental health outcomes.
