Description
Date & Time: Saturday, April 18, 2026 10:00AM – 11:30AM Pacific Time
Location: Live on Google Meet, Course will also be recorded and sent to all registrants.
Including elements from Living Lotus’ Guide to Supporting Your LGBTQ+ Child, this course explores the critical role of family acceptance in shaping mental health outcomes, including its protective impact against depression, anxiety, and suicide risk. Participants will gain relational strategies for supporting LGBTQ+ youth across home, clinical, and community settings. The training also examines broader sociopolitical and systemic factors impacting LGBTQ+ youth today, including evolving school policies, legal protections, and barriers to care. Participants will leave with actionable tools, increased confidence in affirming practices, and a deeper understanding of how to support youth within complex systems.
Community members are invited to pay what you can at any amount that works for you, including free. If you’re able to contribute, it helps sustain this work and allows us to continue offering accessible, affirming mental health education.
Instructors:
Maggie Chen, MSW, MPH (CA-ASW 133198) is an associate social worker who specializes in working with queer and neurodivergent youth. Her work is influenced by lived experiences as a queer Asian-American and she always works to meet kids where they are while bringing a fun, joyful approach to therapy.
Dr. Panicha McGuire, LMFT, RPT™, PsyD, ADHD-CCSP (CA- LMFT 111378), is the founder of Living Lotus Therapy, a liberation-oriented and neurodiversity-affirming practice serving neurodivergent, 2SLGBTQIA+, and global majority communities. She brings nearly a decade of experience integrating clinical practice with systemic and lived perspectives. Her work centers cultural humility, relational safety, and the disruption of deficit-based frameworks.
Educational Goals:
- Increase understanding of LGBTQ+ identity development and related terminology.
- Enhance awareness of the impact of family acceptance on LGBTQ+ youth mental health outcomes.
- Strengthen participants’ ability to provide affirming, developmentally appropriate support to LGBTQ+ youth.
- Expand understanding of systemic, legal, and sociopolitical factors impacting LGBTQ+ youth.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:
- State at least three mental health outcomes associated with family acceptance versus rejection of LGBTQ+ youth.
- Identify five affirming strategies caregivers or clinicians can use to support LGBTQ+ youth.
- Describe two systemic or policy-related factors that impact LGBTQ+ youth experiences (e.g., school policies, privacy laws, access to care).
- Apply two advocacy-informed approaches when supporting LGBTQ+ youth and their families.
Living Lotus Family Therapy, Inc. (#1032776) is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) to sponsor continuing education for Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT), Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCC), and Licensed Educational Psychologists (LEP). Continuing education offered is suitable for BBS license renewal. Living Lotus Family Therapy, Inc. maintains responsibility for the following courses and content. Questions about our programs? Check out our FAQ.
