In society, we operate with a set of social norms and expectations. In many ways it feels comfortable to go along with them. When you think about gender, sex, and sexual orientation, your perception of those words, and what you associate them with, is impacted by those social norms and expectations. But, how were those norms and expectations created? And, by whom, and why? What happens when your very existence, who you are, is not within those norms and expectations? If you’re willing to take an honest look, it’s not difficult to see the impact. This training will explore these questions and more, and their impact on the LGBTQ+ community. 

 

You’ll learn about the creation of ideals and beliefs surrounding sexual orientation, sex, and gender, the use of narratives to create and reinforce bias and their impact, community culture, personal identity, and you’ll build knowledge and awareness to become a strong ally.

 

Whether you are a social service or mental health professional pursuing a unique and impactful continuing education experience, a student, or anyone regardless of profession who is seeking to learn and grow in LGBTQ+ allyship, this virtual training experience will challenge you, and expose you to knowledge and skills to gain better understanding of the LGBTQ+ community, their history, the impact of systemic and institutional oppression, and allyship.  This is a virtual training, with 3 modules (approximately 2 hours of content in each module). The training is asynchronous, designed for participants to be able to take breaks as they need to, and to work at their own pace.  

 

The videos within this training include Open Captions in English. For other accessibility needs or accommodations, contact driep.help@borderlandrainbow.org

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Participants will:

• Learn about historical events, ideologies, and social structures, and how they inform modern day beliefs, bias, and perception regarding the LGBTQ+ community

• Develop an understanding of basic terminology and who the LGBTQ+ community is

• Analyze concepts such as the gender binary, gender roles, heteronormativity, homophobia and transphobia

• Reflect on personal identity, bias, privilege, and intersectionality

• Identify what LGBTQ+ allyship means and ways to make allyship part of your life and/or practice.

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Facilitated by Ashley Heidebrecht, LMSW

Ashley has worked in the field of social services for over a decade. Ashley worked at a Kansas non-profit for 8 years, providing individual and group community-based services to children, adults, and families diagnosed with a severe emotional disturbance, and creating and facilitating multiple workshops and parenting classes, and the last 6 years at that agency served as a supervisor of 80 staff with a client base of over 200 children and families. Since leaving that agency in 2015, Ashley has provided case management and trauma support for families recovering from homelessness, and has become active in community organizing and advocacy, particularly surrounding migrant child detention, LGBTQ rights, racial equity, and reproductive rights, and has completed her Master of Social Work degree. 

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Most recently, Ashley has served LGBTQ youth and adults in group and individual settings, engaged in casework with the Deaf community, and focused on immigrant rights and fighting against family separation and child detention. Ashley now serves as the Education and Content Manager for the Diversity and Resiliency Institute of El Paso, creating and facilitating training and continuing education rooted in social justice.

 

Ashley focuses heavily on advocacy and education, providing educational opportunities to improve community awareness and allyship, and engaging in regional and national initiatives to fight discrimination. Ashley is also working to mobilize social workers across the Nation to become more engaged in social justice initiatives.