Hey, again, welcome, everyone. My name is Sandy Erickson with the International Association of Forensic Nurses where I serve as the grant coordinator for the ISAC project. We'll talk more about that and introduce today's speaker in a moment, but first we want to thank Mary Kate from TA2TA for hosting the platform and tech support for our webinar. Thank you, Mary Kate. Also here from IAFN is Carrie Knadel, our administrative assistant, and Tammy Scarlett, the forensic nurse specialist on the ISAC project. They will be monitoring the chat today for questions and also the other section that Mary Kate talked about, and Carrie will be following up with you after the webinar. And as we like to do, we'll start our time together today with gratitude. Please take a moment to find the chat box and share a word of gratitude with everyone. It's good to recognize that no matter what is happening in life, there is much to be grateful for. Sunshine, water, connection with others, laughter, I'm sure you can think of many. While you're doing that, I want to thank you all for being here and sharing your time and gratitude with us and with each other. This training is being recorded and will be posted for viewing later, so please let others know about it. If you're watching this webinar today on one screen with a group, please send us a list of all who are viewing, and also make sure to share the evaluation link with each of them. That really helps inform us of other topics you may all be interested in as well. The International Association of Forensic Nurses is the recognized authority on forensic nursing, and our goal is to promote universal access to forensic nursing care for patients impacted by violence and trauma. We have over 6,500 members worldwide in 32 countries. The ISAC project, which stands for Indigenous Sexual Assault and Abuse Clearinghouse, offers technical assistance, training and education to any providers serving sexual assault survivors in tribal communities. Our website, isaconline.org, gives you access to information and resources on sexual assault, including the webinar being presented today. The third Thursday webinar series is scheduled through the end of 2021, with our next webinar focusing on supporting children in tribal communities who are survivors of sexual assault. This month, we actually also have another important webinar next Thursday on the topic of sexual violence against men and boys. Please go to isaconline.org and click on the third Thursday link to stay updated of any changes and to register for webinars. This series, along with other webinars that we have, are being provided in collaboration with our partners, the Office on Violence Against Women, the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, and the Alaska Native Women's Resource Center. Today's webinar is made possible by funding from the Office on Violence Against Women, for which we are incredibly grateful. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, the Office on Violence Against Women, or the International Association of Forensic Nurses. Now we would like to take a moment for land acknowledgement. For all people in all communities, land acknowledgement is a powerful way of showing respect, appreciation, and honor to the Indigenous peoples of the land on which we work and live. Acknowledgement is a simple way to resist the erasure of Indigenous histories and work towards inviting the truth. This is important, and we hope that you take time to learn more about the Indigenous people in your area. And if you don't already know about the land you're on, you can find out by following the instructions on the screen. Carrie will also put the number in the chat for you. I've lived most of my life on Denina land in Anchorage, Alaska. My father, who was chopped off from Colorado, came up in the military, and my mother, who was German Dutch raised in Kansas, came by herself to Alaska on a bus right out of high school. My parents met here in 1946, and I've always been very grateful that they made Alaska our home. And now it is my great pleasure to introduce today's speaker, Amanda Watson. Amanda Kanaka Maoli, who used they them pronouns, has nearly a decade of experience as an advocate, organizer, and technical assistance provider in the movement in gender-based violence. Amanda currently works for Praxis International as a senior management responsible for the implementation of Praxis Advocacy Learning Center and Rural Programs. They previously worked with the Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition on multiple national technical assistance projects focused on responding to sexual violence and sex trafficking in tribal communities. Amanda has considerable expertise in training communities to understand the unique impact of sexual violence on two-spirit and LGBTQ folks while building inclusive advocacy services. Thank you for being with us today, Amanda. Thank you so much for that introduction, Sandy. I'm so, so grateful and appreciative to be here with you all today and to have the time to talk about the topic at hand, which is looking at how we can better support LGBTQ and two-spirit survivors of sexual assault. Before I jump in, just again to give a little bit of context for who I am and what I'm bringing with me today to you all in our conversation. Again, I'm Kanaka Maoli, Native Hawaiian. My pronouns are they, them, theirs. And this topic is one that I'm incredibly passionate about. I think that it's so important and necessary to have spaces like this where we can talk openly about a topic that has historically been suppressed and where these spaces have not been provided to ask questions, to increase our knowledge and our own awareness, and to figure out ultimately what does it mean and how can we be good relatives in our work to everybody in our communities, including in this case specifically our LGBTQ and two-spirit relatives. So my background is mostly working in predominantly sexual assault spaces and sex trafficking. And I worked with the Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition for a number of years and had the great honor of getting to work with tribal communities across the United States and having a lot of conversations about what are the experiences of LGBTQ and two-spirit survivors in tribal communities, as well as in urban areas, and what are the differences, what are the unique needs that we see, and what are the roles that all different service providers have in providing really effective holistic support and advocacy when folks who are LGBTQ or two-spirit experience any form of violence, whether that be sexual assault, domestic violence, trafficking, or other forms of violence. So it's always a pleasure to get to join a group of folks like everybody on the webinar today and the wonderful folks from IAFN and Isaac who have invited me to be here. So I'm excited to be able to dive into the content and see where the session takes us today. So just to give kind of a broad overview of what to expect from the next hour and a half or so that we have together. You know, really this session is going to be kind of a high level overview of some of the main considerations to keep in mind for working with LGBTQ and two-spirit survivors. And, you know, there's an enormous amount that could be said about any one of the topics that I'll cover. There's a ton of resources and information out there if you want to take more of a deep dive, and I'm happy if there's questions. You'll also get my contact information so that you can reach out to me if you do want to really get more into the weeds and nitty-gritty about some of this. But for today, it's really going to be focusing on kind of giving that big picture look at what are a couple of areas that we can all look at in our own agencies, in our own programs, in our own roles, where we can pretty easily make some tangible changes potentially to ensure that LGBTQ and two-spirit survivors feel welcome, they feel that we are individuals and organizations that they can go to after experiencing violence, and that when they do come to us that they have an experience where they feel seen and validated and supported. So I'll give kind of those overviews and along the way we'll also be talking a little bit about some of the unique barriers that LGBTQ survivors might face in accessing services, some of the unique considerations that might come up for an LGBTQ survivor after experiencing violence, just so that you can kind of have those on your radar and kind of hanging out in the back of your mind because it does impact potentially the ways that you might interact with those survivors, the conversations you might have. And so I try to give a little bit of that context so you can carry that forward with you. And then we'll also talk about some specific support strategies and actions that you can take. Again, you know, I'll be giving some of this big picture information but hopefully I want everybody to walk away from today's session feeling like, okay, I've got a couple of ideas for things that I could look at in my own agency to see, you know, are we doing these things? And if not, okay, great, here's some tangible, concrete things that maybe we can look at having conversations about how to shift those or what it would look like to maybe do things a little differently to proactively ensure that an LGBTQ or Two-Spirit survivor is going to have the best experience possible if they come to our organization. But I know that this is a big topic and again, not one that there's always a ton of opportunity to really talk about. So just briefly, if folks do have questions, Mary Kate already noted that the Q&A is available as well as the chat. So if there are anything, any topics or items in particular you were really hoping would be talked about during today's session, feel free to put those into the Q&A or the chat now just so I can kind of get a sense if there is anything specific that folks are hoping for. And then as I'm going through the remainder of the session, I would really invite everybody to use the chat and use the Q&A for any questions or comments that come up as we're going through. Ultimately, you know, I have some information that I'm excited to share with you, but I want this time to be as useful as possible for everybody who's joining us for the webinar today and for folks that might watch the recording later on, knowing that if you have questions about certain things, it's highly likely that other folks will have those questions either now or again watching this recording in the future. So please feel free to use again the chat in the Q&A throughout the session today. And I'll be keeping somewhat of an eye on it, but Carrie and Tammy are also going to make sure that if you all are sharing questions that those don't get lost and that we make sure to address those throughout the session. So with that, you know, I think that one of the things that I always like to start with is kind of taking us the full historical perspective of how we've gotten to where we are today. You know, I'm a firm believer that we can't understand where we are nor where we want to go in the future without understanding where we come from and what it is that's led us to where we are today. And so when we're talking about Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ people, and I saw a question in the chat about, you know, what does it mean to be a Two-Spirit survivor? And I think this is a great place to start is the language that's used. So Two-Spirit is kind of an umbrella term that was first used at an international gathering in the 1990s where a number of Native folks who were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, they had all gathered together and really were kind of talking with each other and just visiting about the experience of being both Native and also LGBTQ. And this kind of reality that happened and still does happen today of the LGBTQ community oftentimes being racist and not necessarily respecting or honoring the experiences of Native folks. And so that being a dynamic. But then on the flip side, some Native communities not being inclusive or welcoming of LGBTQ folks. And so Native LGBTQ folks, you know, we're kind of in this torn between multiple worlds of, you know, wanting community with other folks who shared their identities and experiences, but feeling forced to choose. Either they could, you know, find community with other lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender folks around those experiences, but then would likely encounter racism or would have to kind of not be able to bring their full self and their Native identity with them into those spaces. Or perhaps in more Native specific spaces, they wouldn't be able to bring their sexual orientation or gender identity with them. And so Two-Spirit was decided on as kind of this umbrella term that folks felt reflected a lot of traditional tribal beliefs around having both masculine and feminine, male and female spirits in one being. And that not being an inherently bad thing, that being a very natural, normal thing that was revered in some communities. And so Two-Spirit became this umbrella term for folks that are Native and also are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. And I think it's useful to note that Two-Spirit, you know, can be used in different ways. Some folks will use it to talk about their gender identity. So whether they see themselves as a man or a woman or non-binary or a different gender. Other folks will use it sometimes as an umbrella term or a catch-all phrase for their sexual orientation. So who they're sexually attracted to, whether that be, you know, I'm sexually attracted to men or to women, or I'm sexually attracted to folks regardless of gender. And so Two-Spirit kind of, again, it's really just sort of this catch-all phrase that really was designed to hold up some space for folks to be both Native and also LGBTQ simultaneously. And so that's kind of the origins of the term. And so when I'm talking about Two-Spirit survivors, it's really talking about folks who are Native and who also are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or fall anywhere on that spectrum. I will note that, you know, the term Two-Spirit does have different connotations for different tribal communities. That's not necessarily a term that's specific to any one tribe. And some tribes, that specific phrase actually has negative connotations. And so they don't use the phrase Two-Spirit in some tribal communities. They might say Native LGBTQ folks. So you might hear me kind of move interchangeably between those two during the presentation today. But generally, kind of, that's what we're talking about is this folks who live at the intersections of these identities and what meaning that has then when those folks experience violence and the role that the rest of the community has. So, you know, kind of moving from the language piece, you know, one of the reasons why the term Two-Spirit, I think, was necessary to begin with, and folks were kind of being caught in that tension between identities, really is going back to this history of colonization and the way that colonization really forced tribal communities in many cases to kind of adopt a very Western way of viewing sex and gender and sexual orientation. And a lot of tribes, you know, every tribe's experience was different. And tribes are all along and continue on even today, you know, where they follow along subscribing to some Western beliefs or holding steadfast to very traditional beliefs. And one is not necessarily better or worse than the other. But the impact was that folks who we would today call transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, non-binary, in many cases, tribes historically, those folks would have just been part of the community. It would have been any other community member, they would have had their role in contributing to the well-being of the community and caring for the community. They might have had specific roles. They might not have, but they were not ostracized. They were not excluded from the community. It was not seen as anything bad or wrong or less than or deviant. It was just, you know, another way of being. And as a result of colonization, I think there's been, you know, some internalization in communities. This is not exclusive to tribal communities by any stretch, I think, you know, across society. This idea that being two-spirit, being LGBTQ is a bad thing, is shameful, that there's something wrong with you, that's been internalized and has shown up in different ways over the years, in a wide variety of ways, ranging from legislation that's been passed to outright violence against folks who are LGBTQ or two-spirit. And so I think it's really important though to acknowledge that the violence that continues to happen today is not the way it's always been. There are different ways of being in relation with each other, and we know that because we have those stories from our own communities of what those times were like and how we were in community with one another and in relation. And so when we think today about, you know, again, what the experiences are of two-spirit or Native LGBTQ folks and their experiences with violence and what we can do to support them, I think being able to kind of ground ourselves in that mentality and that knowledge of being good relatives to each other, and this is not, you know, necessarily uncharted territory. This is a rediscovering of what it means to be in community with each other and a relearning process, unlearning the things that we might have internalized from colonization and relearning ways of being in relation that are in line with our values and our beliefs about being good relatives to each other and building strong, healthy communities. So there's, again, tons more that could be said just on this history piece that I'm not going to get into now, but I just like to kind of frame that up because I think it is important to know that, you know, both the strengths that we're bringing with us into the conversations today and also the reality that the violence that happens to two-spirit folks today in the present didn't just appear out of nowhere. It wasn't, you know, we woke up one day and it existed. There's been a really long pattern over hundreds of years now of two-spirit and Native LGBTQ folks being targeted for violence that has led us to where we are, and so that history does inform then the present-day experiences and can have an impact on our roles as service providers or even just as community members. So with that said, for today I've got four main areas that I'm going to kind of focus on with the remainder of our time as far as really getting into more detail about things to be thinking about when you're working with LGBTQ or two-spirit survivors. The first one is going to be looking at your building, your physical spaces, like the actual location where your organization provides services. The second area is going to be looking at policies and procedures, so more the administrative side of things, and some opportunities there to make sure our services are inclusive. The third area is going to be looking at the actual services offered. What is it that we provide? And how are we making sure that it meets the needs of LGBTQ survivors? And then the fourth area is partnerships, because again, you know, we don't exist in isolation. And no matter what each of us, our role is as an individual in our agency and in our community. When folks experience violence, we know that it works better if we have partnerships to be able to kind of have that full wraparound to hold that survivor and make sure that all of their needs are met, not just, you know, I only focus on healthcare, or I only focus on advocacy, and a survivor is trying to ping pong between a bunch of disconnected services, but thinking about how can we build intentional partnerships so that we really do have this interconnected web to catch and hold survivors after they've experienced violence. So we're going to start with the building and the physical space. And I'm going to invite folks to take a minute to do kind of a little guided imagery activity with me. It's not super long. But I'd invite you to just, you know, get comfortable in your chair, you can close your eyes if you want to, or you can leave them open, whatever feels most comfortable to you. I'm going to ask you to take a nice deep breath in and out. You can just set aside, you know, whatever is on your mind, work stuff, you can just set it to the side for a minute, while we do this, it'll be there when you come back. But I want you to think to yourselves that imagine you're walking into a new office building, somewhere you've never been before, it's your first time there. As you enter this building, what are the first things that you notice? What are you paying attention to or observing? What do you see in this office building? What are your eyes drawn to? Are there things that make you feel welcome? Things that you might see where you think to yourself, this is a good place. I feel good walking into this office building, brings a smile to my face, there feels like, you know, a space that I'm welcome here. And the flip side of things. I also want you to think as you're imagining this new office building you're walking into, whether there are any red flags you pay attention to anything you're kind of looking out for that might make you feel less comfortable. Things that give you pause or make you think, you know, it's fancy and new in here, but that's not quite what I would want to see. As you've got this image of this office building in your mind. And now I want you to imagine that you're coming to this place because you need them to help you with something. Maybe you're going there because you need medical care. Or because you need legal support. Or because maybe you just need to talk to somebody about something that's happening in your life. And this is the building that you go to, in order to get access to the person you need to talk to. As you're thinking about that about what it means to be going to a place in search of help. Are there other things that you pay attention to in a different way than if you're just going there for a casual visit? Are there things that you look for if you're going somewhere for assistance that make you feel confident that you're going to be treated with respect? That this is going to be a good experience, and that, you know, this is a place these are people that you feel confident that yep, they're going to be able to help me with what I need. Go ahead and open your eyes if they were closed. But I think this is always an interesting thing for me to think about even for myself, because I think it can illustrate for us both, you know, what are things that we pay attention to based on our own experiences of potentially a violence of marginalization of those times where maybe we felt not welcome, that, you know, send up those little red flags for us that we look for in the future, walking into an office space or any building, as well as the things that we kind of subconsciously keep an eye out for that do make us feel welcome, that make us feel like yep, this is this is a good place. I feel good walking in here. And I think it can also be illustrative and helping us to think through, you know, what are the things that maybe aren't even on our radar, because that's not our experience. So for example, you know, for me personally, I'm able bodied and I'm able to walk. And so when I do this activity, you know, I am imagining myself walking into a new office building. You know, I might imagine myself walking upstairs to get an open pulling a door open. And yet, for somebody with a disability, somebody who uses a wheelchair, the act of you know, is there a ramp versus those stairs to have to walk up to get into the doors? Do the doors have automatic door buttons? Or do they have to be manually opened? And is that going to prevent me from even getting through the door? Right? Those are experiences that are not mine. And that might not even be on my radar. And those are really important things for me to be thinking about when I come back to, you know, so if I'm thinking about my program, or my agency, how do we make it from the get go literally from the front door, as welcoming as possible for as many people as possible in the community. And so for today, again, you know, we're focusing on LGBTQ and two spirit survivors. And this is far from an exhaustive, you know, overview, even of things you can do to make a physical space more welcoming. But just some things to kind of get you thinking about, you know, that I know for myself as somebody who's queer and non binary, these are very much things that I pay attention to when I walk into a space, you know, right off the bat thinking about, you know, honestly, even if I'm just looking on a website, right, if I'm looking, for example, for, you know, just a new general practice, health care provider, I'm looking at the website, and I'm looking for any indication, whether in writing, or visually that they work with queer people and non binary or transgender people, I'm looking for, you know, do they mention it if they have a little about a section if they have doctor or nurse bios, do they mention anything there about being welcoming folks of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Sometimes I'll see organizations that have little rainbow flag and transgender flag decals on their websites. Those are things that I'm paying attention to, because they say to me right off the bat, okay, before I even call this location, or show up at their front door, they at least have this kind of general awareness that people like me exist, and that they care enough about wanting to make sure that people like me see them as a place as a resource, that they're trying to make some sort of visible indicators that this is something they've thought about, and hopefully that they're committed to being welcoming and providing really good services the same as they would for anybody else. And so just really thinking about, you know, for your agency, are there any visible signs that you work with LGBTQ and Two-Spirit survivors? Are there ways that you're making it clear, whether on a website, if you have brochures, or posters, or other materials that might be distributed into the community, about the services you offer or about your agency? Are you making it clear that LGBTQ and Two-Spirit survivors are recognized by your agency as part of the community, and that you are welcoming of them? And so those can, you know, it can be as simple as having, you know, a sentence or two, again, stating that, you know, our agency is proud to work with folks from diverse communities, and we welcome everybody, regardless of, you know, it could be age, gender identity, sexual orientation, it's, again, not limited just to welcoming LGBTQ and Two-Spirit survivors. But even a couple sentences, making very explicit that that is your agency's position, can go a long way towards a survivor, or somebody in crisis saying, Okay, I at least know that this is like on their radar. And hopefully, they're not going to be completely caught off guard by somebody with my identities coming to them for support. Again, those little rainbow flag, and transgender flag decals can be another way of, you know, if you add those to your brochures, to your website materials, or other publicity, that will catch the eye of folks who are paying attention and looking for those signs of inclusiveness. And I will say that, you know, I think you might have noticed, I've mentioned both the rainbow flag as well as the transgender flag, which if you've never seen the transgender flag, you can Google. It's strips of white and pale blue and pale pink. So a little different from the rainbow flag. And the reason that I say both of them is because the rainbow flag has kind of become, again, like the catchall for the LGBTQ community, and is widely recognized and great. And also, the experiences and needs of somebody who's gay, or lesbian or bisexual, that's dealing with sexual orientation, those identities, and that's different than gender, which again, is really looking at whether you identify as a man or as a woman, as non binary, how you see your gender. And so, again, there can be different needs for folks who are gay or lesbian or bisexual versus folks who are transgender. And so having both of those flags, A, again, sends the message that, okay, we're thinking about the differences between sexual orientation and gender identity, we're aware that it's not all just kind of mushed together, and one big kind of general thing. And that you're thinking about that. And, again, folks will be paying attention to that and looking for those indicators. And it's just one more kind of really small, simple way that you can show, okay, we've got some competency around these issues. And we're thinking about these things. And this is a place where you can come and not have to worry about some of those assumptions being made based on sexual orientation or gender identity. So separate from materials that you're distributing publicly. Also be thinking about bathrooms is a big one, for sure, that has gotten talked about a lot in a lot of different spaces. But I would just ask everybody to think to yourselves about a time that maybe you've really needed to use the bathroom and haven't been able to either maybe you've been on a road trip, and there's not one easily accessible, or you're stuck in a line. Or maybe you're in an unfamiliar building, and you're just trying to get to a bathroom and you can't find it. And a how uncomfortable that is, be kind of just the mental stress of thinking to yourself, I need to go to the bathroom, but I can't or I don't know where one is, I just kind of having that mental load going on. And think about what it would be like to be carrying that and to have that feeling and that worry of what happens if I can't find a bathroom in time, all of the time. Because that's often the experience for folks who are transgender or non binary, with the added layer of it's against the law. In many, many places in the vast majority of jurisdictions to use a bathroom that doesn't match the legal sex on your identification. And so not only having this fear of I need to use the bathroom, I don't know if I'm going to be able to but also if I do find a bathroom, if I use one that somebody looks at me while I'm using the bathroom, you know, I might be washing my hands at the sink and somebody looks at me and thinks you don't belong here and decides to call law enforcement on me to report me for being there, I could be charged with a crime, just because I needed to use the bathroom. And so this, you know, there's lots of health impacts, actually, that can happen as a result of that there's been studies and research done on trans folks having higher incidences of urinary tract infections and other impacts as a result of holding their pee for extended periods of time because they can't safely access the bathroom. And so one thing to think about for your program is a do you have gender inclusive bathrooms available, meaning a bathroom that's not, you know, there's one for men and one for women, do you have a bathroom that perhaps just says bathroom on it, it might be a single cell bathroom is a really common configuration for that where it could just say restroom on the sign or some places will have signs that say all gender bathroom or gender inclusive bathroom. But does your program or agency have that available for somebody to use if they need it? And if you don't, because I know that that's also reality is that, you know, especially in tribal communities, we don't always have a ton of, you know, monetary resources to build a new bathroom right away. Even if we want to do that, and are trying to work towards that. Do the do the legwork and the homework to figure out, okay, so if we don't have a gender inclusive bathroom in our building, where are the gender bathrooms that are closest to us so that you can provide that information to a survivor if they need it. And just be mindful of that and think about, you know, again, something as simple as being able to safely use the bathroom when a survivor comes to your agency, or your organization, after experiencing violence can make a huge difference in levels of comfort and feelings of general safety. So just one thing to kind of keep in mind. And there's a ton of resources out there about bathrooms specifically, because it has become I think, a more high profile issue over the last few years. But really encourage everybody to think about that and make sure that you know where those bathrooms are as well. So even if you don't use those restrooms yourself, if you have a survivor who needs to be directed to where a gender inclusive bathroom is, or they ask for a single stall bathroom, you can direct them to it easily, and help them in finding it. And then the last kind of thing about making your space welcoming for LGBTQ survivors that's going to start kind of moving us into the next area a little bit is your registration process or your intake forms or kind of what you're physically handing people when they first come to you might be at a front desk, it might be over the phone depending on your processes. But think about what forms do you use? What do you physically give to survivors? And what are you asking about? Yeah, so there's a few things that you might be thinking about here. One of which is for registration or intake forms in particular. Do you ask about things like pronouns? So pronouns being the words that you use in English to refer to somebody in the third person without using their name. So for example, if I was, if Sandy was talking about me, I use they them pronouns. So if Sandy was like, Oh, I saw Amanda, they were presenting on the webinar, or I talked to Amanda, that lunch was theirs. So it's those kinds of words that stand in other examples of common pronouns are he, him and his or she, her and hers. So, oh, I was talking to my partner and she went to the gym. The dinner that I ate last night was hers. So you can see kind of how those are the those are what we mean when we talk about pronouns. And oftentimes, in English, we kind of conflate those with gender. So we think oftentimes, most commonly about using pronouns like she, her and hers for folks who are women, and pronouns like he him and his for folks who are men. And oftentimes, you might hear about folks who are non binary using gender neutral pronouns like they, them and theirs. But I think, you know, while that's sort of this, the, what we assume is she, her and hers is for women, he him and his is for men. And we usually decide which pronouns to use for somebody based on their physical appearance. And what we kind of our brains categorize them as, you know, I think it's important to note that you can't tell somebody's pronouns just by looking at them. You know, somebody might look like the most stereotypical what our brains would look at their physical appearance and say, Oh, yes, 100%. That person is a woman and uses she, her hers pronouns. We have no idea. physical appearance does not necessarily directly always correlate with gender identity or with pronouns. And so having spaces on registration and intake forms for folks to self disclose and share that information can go a really long way towards a making sure that you're being respectful and using the correct pronouns when you're talking about somebody. And it also normalizes that, you know, we're not making assumptions about anybody. Because what we don't want to slip into is, you know, oh, I see this person who is androgynous, or like, my brain has a little hiccup where I'm like, Oh, I don't quite know. I'm having trouble figuring out if I think they're a man or a woman or how they identify. So I'm going to ask this one person what their pronouns are. But I'm not going to ask this person that looks more stereotypically, you know, feminine, what their pronouns are. So we really want to just normalize that it's a good practice to allow space for everybody to share their pronouns. Oftentimes, forms may ask about sexual orientation. The other big one is gender identity and sex, having space for both of those knowing that sex assigned at birth. So when you know, a baby was born, the doctors looked at the baby and said, Oh, it's a boy, male would be sex assigned at birth, and would be determined usually based on external genitalia is usually the most common way that that's determined. But gender, again, is how you know yourself to be. And so that baby might be assigned male at birth and have, you know, external genitalia, the penis, and testes, but as they grow up, that baby might say, I'm a woman. And so their sex assigned at birth is going to be different from their gender, which would be women. And so again, this can be really useful, especially in a medical context, because it's helpful to have both. Knowing that we want to honor folks identities, and who they are. And also from a medical standpoint, there may be different questions that are asked based on sex assigned at birth, or there may be different considerations for that survivor, and potential treatment that might be needed. And so, again, giving space for folks to share both gender as well as sex is oftentimes I think the most common way that I've seen organizations approach that in order to both get the information needed but also be respectful and make sure that then that information is reflected and how the patient or survivor is referred to from there on out. So this can cause hiccups sometimes if you use electronic health records or electronic medical records. I know there's not, they can be a little tricky on the coding side sometimes. They don't always come with easily populatable fields that are inclusive of a wide variety of genders and things like pronouns but it is possible and so we'll just encourage folks if you are in a health care setting and do use electronic health records. This is a good question to ask is you know what data is tracked? Is there a way to make sure that something like somebody's pronouns will follow them so that you know perhaps less relevant in a specific forensic nursing context but more broadly that information will be transferred from one provider to the next so that the survivor isn't having to re-identify and have that conversation fresh with every single new person they come into contact with. And I just want to pause for a moment. I saw a question come into the chat that I think is a great question so thank you anonymous attendee for submitting this. The question in the Q&A was how do we prevent coming across as performative by just kind of like tacking on symbols of inclusivity? And they shared you know as a BIPOC or a black indigenous person of color sometimes it's annoying that websites have stock images of BIPOC folks but everyone who works there is white. And so really figuring out you know it's a fair point and I think you know if you're just gonna pull some stock images of folks that look stereotypically queer whatever that might mean to you and put some rainbow flags on things and call it a day. That is not good. That is not good practice. I think the big thing is you know this what I've just talked about really has to be taken I think in context with everything else I'm going to talk about. This on its own having these visible indicators is not enough. This is really just about how do you even get people to be willing to show up at your door in the first place? But you could get them to show up at your door if you still don't have any real sort of competency in working with them. It's still not going to be a good experience which we'll talk more about. But I think also you know it's a good invitation to think about who's reflected on your staff. Do you have folks who are reflective of the community working for your agency? Do you have transgender folks working for you? Do you have queer folks working for you or two-spirit folks? You know I think it's really important for all of us to be reflecting on how our agencies reflect the communities that we serve and how do our agencies reflect the communities that we're hoping to build. Right so even if you think to yourself well I don't think there's that many transgender folks in my community so why do we really need to worry about having anybody who's trans on staff? You know maybe you don't personally know a ton of trans folks in your community and maybe that's true and accurate. And again we're not just working for our current community as it exists right now. I think it's also part of this is thinking about what are the communities we're trying to build and the communities we're trying to build our communities where somebody who is trans in the community even if they're the only one could look at your program and see themselves reflected in it. And so thinking about your hiring practices. How do you reach out to diverse communities across all identities? Again not just sexual orientation or gender identity but BIPOC folks, folks with disabilities, really thinking about how do we create organizations that reflect these communities that we're striving to create. So I know that's I'll get a little bit more into some of the specifics of how to make sure this isn't just a performative thing but hopefully that at least gets the wheels turning and thank you again for that question because I think it's a really important one that we don't fall into this trap of saying all right we updated our brochures we're good to go we've done our part and leaving it at that. So sort of along those lines policies and procedures I think are another area that where we can really make some hopefully in many cases pretty straightforward changes to be more inclusive and supportive both of two-spirit and LGBTQ staff but also survivors, clients, patients who are coming to our programs. And so you know I mentioned earlier having some sentences clarifying that your program is welcoming and serves you know broad community specifically naming sexual orientation and gender identity as part of that and I think doing a careful read of your policies and procedures and making sure that it not only clarifies that yes we do provide services to this community to these populations but also affirming access so not just saying you know we work with everybody but thinking through you know what would it look like to emphasize the importance of you know we value providing quality services to all folks across all of these communities and just looking to make sure that that's reflected in your policies as well as in procedures because ultimately those are what kind of get fallen back on a lot of the time you know you might have a process that happens on the day-to-day basis of you know okay so I make a point to for example ask about pronouns but if that's not in policies and you as an individual leave your organization and somebody new is hired they might not know that that was your personal process for working they're just going to look at the policies and if it's not reflected in policy that you have these practices then things can get lost and we're really again looking not just at what we do as individuals but also what our organizations are doing to sort of embed inclusivity in the structure so that regardless of what individual is asking about things hopefully the experience for the survivor will be the same because everybody has the same foundational directives of this is how our organization functions this is what we value and here is how we live out and carry out these values in our day-to-day work so your anti-discrimination policies should also include sexual orientation and gender identity again you know some of this might seem basic but oftentimes I think policies are one of those things where we write them and they don't always get revisited on a really regular basis and gone over with a really critical eye to say you know have things changed since this policy was written are there ways that we can update the language to be more inclusive to be more explicit about reflecting what it is that we do and who is welcome in our program so again just doing that read through of your policies and as you're doing that also look at whether you're using gendered language in those policies so you know for domestic violence programs I know one thing that's been very common historically and still today is in policies especially policies dealing with survivors using pronouns she her and hers so saying you know if the survivor does this then she blankety-blank and for other programs that maybe aren't doing advocacy work oftentimes you might see he slash she so if client does this he slash she will then do this and so one thing to think about is just replacing it with gender-neutral language where possible so using the pronouns they them theirs is a really good catch-all that you know has good grammatical background and is established as being appropriate to use in these cases and so instead of saying you know if client does this he slash she then does this you would just rewrite it and update it to say if client does this then they do this next so replacing he slash she with they and the same I think can also be done with other instances where specific pronouns like he or she might have been used and I think this is great not only for making sure that we're not gendering specific policies for LGBTQ and two-spirit survivors and trans survivors but also thinking about you know wanting to make sure for domestic violence or sexual assault programs in particular that are offering advocacy also thinking about cisgender men as well who might be straight and cisgender cisgender meaning that they identify with the sex they were assigned at birth so baby boy grows up and says yes I'm a man that would be cisgender so somebody could be a straight cisgender man and we also want those folks in our community to be reflected in our policies and procedures so again some of this you'll start to see really I'm talking specifically about the LGBT community but when we make these changes ultimately I think it has ripple effects for everybody in positive ways beyond even just the specific community and it really does boil down to you know making sure that we are creating this space where everybody in our communities will be able to come and have the same positive experience regardless of who they are and what they're bringing a final thing to think about for policies and procedures is establishing a protocol or process for addressing problematic behavior or language both on the part of staff and on the part of survivors or other clients so figuring out how will you handle it if for example somebody on staff refuses to use a person's correct pronouns and not just you know slipping up occasionally because again our brains have all been socialized to look at people and kind of try to categorize them and associate that with specific words but if somebody you know is intentionally misgendering somebody with the wrong pronoun so if somebody looks at me and intentionally or knowingly you know says oh Amanda she does this all the time that you know that desk is hers and it's doing that you know out of a desire purely to not respect my pronouns rather than you know just occasionally slipping up how will you handle that what is your organization's process going to be for that if there are harmful comments being made about survivors you know in the waiting room or if you have any group settings how will you ensure the safety of those survivors and thinking all the way up to you know things can escalate if they escalated into physical violence on the basis of somebody's sexual orientation or gender identity what would your process be organizationally for handling that both accountability for the person causing the harm but also support then for the survivor or the person being impacted and I think having those proactive conversations really just helps streamline the process enormously so that if that ever does happen and it probably will at some point you're not kind of flailing around in the moment trying to figure out like oh we've never really had this happen before what do we do what are our options having these conversations in advance can help make it so everybody at your organization is on the same page about okay you know we've had time to think this through and this is these are the next steps now to both again support the survivor and also provide accountability for the person causing the harm while recognizing that sometimes the person causing the harm might be another survivor or it might be somebody who also still needs support and services and so really a huge chunk of this slide just comes down to think proactively about what you can address on the front end before it becomes an issue that impacts survivors and one thing just to highlight in case there are any folks on the webinar who watch this recording later who are working at programs that might receive funding from the Department of Justice so thinking about OVC or OVW or some of the other federal agencies there is actually specific guidance that a recipient of funding federal funds may not make a determination about services for one survivor based on the complaints of another survivor when those complaints are based on gender identity so for example if you have a shelter a domestic violence shelter and you have a transgender woman who's seeking services and is staying at your shelter and another survivor at the shelter is just super upset that this transgender woman is also accessing and receiving services at the shelter and kicks up a big fuss and it's causing lots of problems and it's very upset about it you can't deny services to the trans woman or say you know I'm sorry like you know we've got some other options for you you'll have to figure this out a different way on the basis of those complaints by the survivor who's upset and so again I think this just really speaks to the need to have these conversations in advance of what will you do in those situations to ensure that you're keeping the needs of the survivor at the center and also recognizing that sometimes you might be navigating the needs of multiple survivors but ultimately you can't sacrifice the quality of services or the well-being for a transgender survivor on the basis of gender identity and so I just saw a question come up about what if the conflict is because trans versus woman is fearful of being around a male-identified person and you know I think that there is again so much that could be said about this and so in this case you know I think that there is multiple ways that agencies have worked with it if we're talking specifically about the split that happens sometimes in shelters between having shelters that are for women only which would include trans women and men are not allowed in those shelters then oftentimes programs have kind of parallel policies for men providing equitable services which again is really tricky and messy and I think a lot of programs are really grappling with right now how to balance safety and well-being and comfortability of all survivors while also providing the same level of services across genders so I think if you do some googling on that I can I think there's some links that maybe I provided to Isaac when I sent them my materials for this it might be distributed after with some other resources that get more into detail about how to navigate that in policies as well as some of it can come down to having conversations with the survivors themselves to figure out you know how to mediate both the fears that can happen around gender as well as needing to access resources and maintain equitable access to resources so I think that's probably where I'm going to leave that just purely because of time because I think I could spend the next half hour just on that question but I think thank you for that and feel free to follow up with me more after for you anyone else that has more specific questions or wants to talk through that particular element in more detail so when it moves us into direct services and so a big part of this I will say that you know what I'm going to talk about in the next in this section I'm aiming and gearing more towards folks that are doing either forensic nursing or working in health care more generally I know there might be a mix of folks on this call who might not be working exclusively in health care settings and so I'll also mention some things that might be relevant just across the board but knowing that I think a lot of folks on today's session are really coming from that health care lens that's kind of going to be some of the more specific examples I'll be using for this section which I think is good information for everybody regardless of your specific role but when it comes to direct services you know I think one of the things that often comes up is staff training and so I think on there's so many layers to training one of which is you know thinking about the training that folks get initially when they come into a position so is there a certification process you know for forensic nurses obviously there's additional education that has to happen before you are going to be qualified and able to step into that role is there anything in that initial training that addresses working with LGBTQ or two-spirit survivors oftentimes there's not and sometimes that comes down to you know just lack of time and we're trying to fit the most critical information into the smallest chunk of time possible to make it manageable for folks but I think that you know looking at what is covered in that front-end training and thinking about you know it does send a message about what is and is not considered high priority enough to even mention on front-end training that folks receive and so just keeping that in mind and doing some reflection or assessment at your own agency for your own roles if you have somebody new coming into that role what training will they need to have received and from who what perspectives are represented in that training and is there anything in that training that addresses working with LGBTQ and two-spirit survivors and then from there you know obviously there's ongoing training that happens like this where there's opportunities to kind of get more into specific circumstances or working with specific populations and those opportunities are also hugely important and I think organizationally thinking through how do we make those really ongoing so it's not just okay I went to one LGBTQ and two-spirit training three years ago and so I'm still good I'm covered I know what I need to know about that community because as with all things language is constantly changing best practices are evolving there's always more that's happening and so really figuring out how do we make those training opportunities regular ideally at least once a year there should be I think some sort of at least refresher on how do we provide services in an inclusive way doing these checks to make sure that our policies and procedures and practices are in line with current and evolving best practices or recommendations and so just having that ongoing commitment I think is really vital in order to not have a drop-off in the quality of services because you're using outdated information or outdated language just because you don't know about what's shifted but as far as topics to be thinking about you know I think language is one of them the familiarity with terminology hey yeah let's go to this slide really quick you know there's a lot of specific terminology that is really important when working with LGBTQ and two-spirit survivors lots of different words referring to different identities different words related to the experiences that people might have so one example that I always think of is you know for folks who are trans men or trans masculine they might use a prosthetic penis or what's called a packer P-A-C-K-E-R and so in the queer trans community there can be a very different connotation to somebody saying I'm packing versus in other communities where that might be referencing having a gun or other weapon and so just thinking about you know there's so much specificity to language that happens sometimes across communities you know that's not a unique example by any stretch but taking the time to really be familiar with the language on the front end again before we get into conversation I think can really make a difference so that folks that come to us survivors who are LGBTQ or two-spirit don't have to be our learning experience where you know they've experienced violence and they're coming to us for support. And then they end up in the role of educating us. Because we don't know, you know, how to talk about things or we're unfamiliar with terminology. And that's not to say that you're ever going to know everything. You never will. There's, it's always okay to ask questions if you don't know. And I think the responsibility still rests with us to do at least some homework on the front end. So looking at this slide, even if you go through it, how comfortable would you feel with the words just on this slide, both defining them and also, you know, talking about them in a sentence or a couple of sentences? Could you explain what these words mean to somebody else without feeling awkward or clunky? And so I think, if you can, awesome, great. If there's words that you're like, I think I know what that means. But I'm not sure if I could explain it. Or I just don't talk about these things a lot. So I've never tried to talk about some of these things with other folks. These are great things to practice. And this is something you can do with staff or even with just another coworker. It's just to get comfortable and practice using these words and sentences, asking about them so that it kind of just becomes second nature. And you feel less like, oh, this is the first time I've talked about somebody being intersex out loud. So again, I think you'll have access to these slides. If you want to Google, there's also lots of resources out there on different definitions. I did see a question just come through about what is cisgender. And so just really quickly, because I do think that's a really great one to know. Cisgender is when you identify with the sex you were assigned at birth. So that's the example I used earlier of, you know, a baby is born, the doctor looks at the baby and says, it's a boy. And the baby grows up and says, yep, I'm a man. That would be cisgender, because the baby identifies or the adult identifies kind of with the biological sex they were assigned at birth. And so it's kind of the flip side of transgender. Cis means same. The prefix cis means same. So same gender as birth and then trans means across. So across gender. So it's kind of just one of those things where it's important to have a word like cisgender so that it's not just transgender and then Oh, everybody else is just normal. Right? You don't want to create this othering through language. And so cisgender is the word you would use to describe your yourself if you identify with the sex you were assigned at birth. Right, and intersex. Intersex. So really, really briefly, there's so much good stuff out there. And I would really encourage you to look up more on this. But oftentimes, I think folks, we kind of grew up hearing that there's two sexes, you know, there's male and there's female, right for biological sex. And, you know, you've got two X chromosomes, or you've got an X chromosome and a Y chromosome. And, you know, if you have two X chromosomes, you have breasts, you have a uterus and ovaries and fallopian tubes and a vagina and a clitoris, you have an XY chromosome with a Y chromosome, then you know, you're going to have a penis and testes and, you know, secondary sex characteristics like facial hair, for example, perhaps. And there's actually a huge, huge spectrum along biological sex that is not just, you know, neatly male and female, XY or XX. And so intersex kind of covers that there's other combinations of chromosomal patterns that can happen. You might have somebody who technically has XY chromosomes, but has a vagina and breasts and a uterus. There's so much variation that happens that oftentimes, you know, folks might not even know that they're intersex because it could, if there's no misalignment between external genitalia, and how they identify, it might not be caught perhaps even until you know, if they're trying to have children then infertility, and some of the testing that happens there might actually ping some of these things that would signal like, oh, okay, this isn't, you know, these neat, tidy boxes that we thought. So intersex, again, is kind of just that broad umbrella term to for the spectrum along sex and recognizing that it's not too neat, tidy boxes, there's actually an enormous amount of variance that happens naturally. And so then the experiences for those folks will also vary, depending on their identity and kind of how they move through the world. So that's a very short primer on intersex. So one, one or two things just to highlight about the direct services piece is that I think, you know, as far as respectful interactions with survivors who are LGBTQ or Two-Spirit, you know, A, I think, again, being comfortable talking about it is helpful. And the more you can normalize it in your head so that you know, if somebody does share with you, oh, I'm transgender, especially thinking about in a crisis situation where they've just experienced violence, going to a medical provider for medical attention, especially a forensic exam, which can be invasive for anybody, but especially for folks who might have historically faced violence, or ridicule or disgust on the basis of their gender identity, it's a very vulnerable thing. And so as much as you can be very intentional about responding with that warmth, and that just normalizing it, and, you know, okay, thank you for sharing that with me. And like, then you can just talk through, you know, what implications that might have for the exam that you're doing, or for what happens next, I think is really important. Because oftentimes, those sorts of disclosures or that sort of sharing, still, even today is met with, you know, oh, like, you might see eyes widening, or a little gasp, or people kind of getting a little tense and uncomfortable, because they just don't know, you know, okay, well, maybe I've never done a forensic exam on somebody who's transgender before. And so I don't really know exactly what to do with this information. And so, again, just kind of thinking through to yourself how you'll respond planning for how you'll respond in those situations, so that hopefully, it kind of becomes muscle memory and a default response. But again, this is a very high level overview, but a few things just to kind of whet your appetites for all the information that is out there about the details of what this can mean for your practice, as healthcare providers, and kind of the work that you're doing with survivors. You know, thinking about things like, even what size speculum you use for somebody who has either a vagina, or any sort of internal sex organs, for the size of the speculum is relevant, because if somebody is on testosterone for hormone replacement therapy, so for example, a trans man, if so they would have been born, doctor looked at the baby and said, it's a girl grows up, baby grows up and says, I'm a man, they might go on testosterone in order to align their physical outward appearance with who they know themselves to be, to have facial hair, deepening voice, that type of thing. But being on testosterone can cause thinning and weakening of the interior vaginal walls, and cause increased sensitivity. And so just thinking about, you know, there's that component of things, if somebody is a trans woman, and they've had surgery to construct a vagina. Again, a regular size speculum may not be the best tool for the job. And so thinking about things like even being able to think to yourself, oh, I wonder if I should use a pediatric speculum, or a smaller size speculum, you know, these are things that I would hazard a guess probably aren't often talked about just in general practice, but can really make a huge difference, both for the quality of the exam that you're able to do, but also for the comfort level of the survivor, or the patient that you're working with. So things like that are really useful, I think the language that you're using to describe body parts, so thinking about, you know, even something like breast, breast tissue is gendered in English. And so talking about, you know, upper chest or chest tissue, for a trans man can be one example, if you say more gender neutral language, that still allows you to clearly indicate or document, you know, where you might be collecting evidence or noting injuries, but without causing any gender dysphoria, or discomfort for that survivor around how they identify and refer to their bodies. So lots, lots more could be said about that. And I wish we had time to get into it today. But we don't but just know that I think there's a there's a whole world of information that can really help us tailor the work that we do to meet these specific needs of survivors. So talk about these things. And so as far as partners in the last couple minutes, and then we're going to have a little time in case there's other questions. I know there's one in the Q&A I didn't get to, but if there's others as well. But before we jump to that, one of the things to know about partners is I think that piece that I started with way at the beginning about kind of the historical context, I think really becomes hugely relevant when we think about the partnerships that we have with other organizations and kind of the the stories and narratives that LGBTQ and Two-Spirit survivors are bringing with them when they come to our programs and when we send them to other agencies as well. So that historical trauma piece, both from colonization is very real. But also, there was a long and well documented and established practice across multiple systems of, in some cases, treating LGBTQ folks very poorly, in some cases targeting them specifically for acts of violence. And that goes across medical systems, that goes across mental health systems that goes across law enforcement and legal systems. You know, this is this was not isolated incidents, this was system wide society wide violence that was happening, both physically, but also mentally and emotionally and spiritually. And so keeping that in mind, and knowing that, you know, that was not even, you know, 100 years ago, this is these things are still happening in many communities where LGBTQ folks are targeted for violence by systems or go to systems and receive drastically subpar levels of care or support compared to their straight or cisgender peers, due to biases on the part of service providers. And so a know that folks in the community hear those stories and know those stories. And even if you know, nobody's ever heard that specific story about your program, they still know that that's a possibility. And so if folks are a little standoffish and wary, that might be part of it. Even if you personally have never done anything to cause harm or discriminate against somebody. But also, then when we start to think about again, that holistic net and referring out to other partners, really think carefully about, you know, if we're thinking non emergent medical care, are there healthcare clinic staff in the area that are going to be able to have the same level of comfort working with an LGBTQ or two spirit survivor for follow up, who, again, will have familiarity with the language will understand some of the unique medical considerations, that type of thing, you know, on the legal side, look at the laws in your jurisdiction, look at your tribal codes, if you're working for a tribe, directly look at county state laws. Because oftentimes, again, laws are sort of like policies, and sometimes they were written many years ago in a particular way, and might need to be updated in order to make sure that they're inclusive of violence against LGBTQ and two spirit survivors. And think through with the court systems, can you strategize with judges or prosecutors or court transcribers in advance about how do you respectfully refer to and document transgender survivors in particular, knowing that court records have very particular standards that they have to meet around documenting the truth. And also, there are established ways that many courts have used in order to still be respectful and honor trans survivors and trans individuals, while still meeting the standard needed as far as accuracy in the documentation. The same goes for law enforcement. Thinking about, you know, how will law enforcement document a trans or non binary survivor in their reports? Have they been trained to collect evidence and conduct investigations in a way that demonstrates or proves that intimate partner violence might have occurred between two individuals of the same gender, that sometimes can be a sticking point that the defense might use in order to dismiss that it was intimate partner violence at all, because law enforcement didn't collect enough evidence that they were in an intimate relationship and not just, for example, roommates, and then mental health care as well. There's a history and ongoing practice in some places still have things like reparative therapy, or conversion therapy where LGBTQ folks essentially are through therapy, you know, attempted to be turned straight or turned cisgender. And so do your research on what practitioners and providers you're sending referrals to or informing survivors are available in your area just to make sure that you know that you're not unintentionally sending a survivor to somebody who might cause harm, or enact bias and discrimination against that survivor. So there's, I push, I always get to the end, towards the end of these types of presentations, and wish we just had so much more time because there still is so much to say. But I think ultimately, you know, I'll just stop here with just the reminder that really, what we're trying to do, again, is create space for everybody in the community to be able to receive the exact same level of support, and have the same positive experience when they come to us. And so just thinking about that and thinking through, you know, in your own community, or for your own agency. If you're not sure, if you're like, well, maybe we're doing I think we're doing okay. You can always reach out to those organizations, providers like IAFN or others or ISAAC that can help talk through things with you. You can also think about looking for partnerships with LGBTQ or Two-Spirit organizations in your region or your area to try to build those relationships and partnerships as well and allow space for that community input. So lots of opportunities for conversation. But I will pause here and invite Sandy to join me again for the last few minutes. Well, one thing I was going to say was go ahead and take a drink of water, and then maybe take the question that was still in the box unless you had already done that while we're still recording. And then I'm going to have a close out after we talk about a couple questions people might have. And then we'll stop the recording if anybody has questions they want to ask, or comments they want to make after we have ended that. So go ahead and answer a couple questions if you'd like to, Amanda. Great. Okay, so one of the questions was from somebody noting that in their state, there are a lot of trans panic laws, which, you know, the term trans panic laws, you know, I think bathroom bills are one example where it's things that are really targeting folks who are transgender and criminalizing them, and making it very easy for folks who want to discriminate against trans people or otherwise kind of use the criminal legal system against trans folks with the intention of causing harm. And so the question was, you know, the legal aspect of being a survivor can be even more traumatizing and advice on how to navigate that when supporting those that come to this individual for support. And I think, you know, a couple of things. One, organizationally, again, I think this is an opportunity where if you do know that there are laws happening in your state, that are deeply problematic, or targeting certain populations in harmful ways. Even if your program isn't able to explicitly say, you know, we don't agree with this legislation because of your funding sources or need to remain nonpartisan, depending again, this will vary from agency to agency. But I think even a general statement of, you know, our agency is committed to upholding their rights and dignity, and etc, etc, of all people, regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation, that type of statement can be one small thing to do. Again, because I think that that helps establish the baseline for survivors when they come to you that the organization is going to kind of have their back and be in their corner. But then as far as how to navigate the specifics of it with survivors, and trans survivors, who might already be existing in kind of this traumatizing legal state. I think it's always I think it's okay to have a conversation with them about it and a dialogue, you know, similar to what you might do with any survivor where you might strategize and you know, talk through about what to expect with the legal process or the court systems. You know, I think you can do that and also hold that space for them to share what specific fears they might have, or if they have specific concerns. And I think opening that space for that dialogue and conversation with them helps create kind of a low pressure way where you're not making assumptions about, you know, because you're trans, you're going to be traumatized by this, and it's going to be upsetting, because maybe it won't be. But I think providing that space gives them the autonomy and agency to share what they think is most important for you to know about what their fears might be. And for you, then, based on what they share to say, okay, so like, I hear you. And let's talk through some strategies about what we might be able to do to navigate that or to support you through that or to make it more manageable on the individual level, knowing that I think then based on what you're hearing from survivors, I would encourage your organization then to think about is there systems change work you can do, you know, if you're hearing similar concerns from multiple survivors, about a particularly sticky area of the legal system? Can your agency provide that feedback to the legal system or push for change, push to change the system itself and how that area is functioning across the board, rather than having to just take in each individual survivor, one at a time through it. So that's, I think what I would say for that question. And then I see another question on tips to get people on board with changing policies and making direct systematic changes. Do you Sandy, do you want to do? Yeah, I am going to sit because I think we're gonna have to end the recording soon. So I just wanted to say thank you again, very much for joining us today and sharing all this information with us. And just want to remind everyone, Carrie will be following up with you with a evaluation. And you'll also get a certificate with that evaluation. And send us a list of anybody who was attending with you that was not formally registered. And also a reminder that we have a special webinar next Thursday, the 28th, a silent epidemic sexual violence against men and boys. And we really hope that you will all join us for that and register for that. It is outside of our normal third Thursday webinar, but it is again on a Thursday at the same time. So please join us for that. And then we will end the recording now and stay on for more questions.

Sandy Erickson

ISAC project

forensic nursing care

sexual assault survivors

tribal communities

webinars

supporting children

sexual violence against men and boys

inclusive spaces

partnerships

ongoing training

changing policies