Professionals Working with LGBTQIA+ Youth

Accredited Schools Online - Teachers as LGBTQ Allies

• A primer for teachers aiming to support students of all genders and sexual orientations. This resource includes vocabulary, curricula ideas, and advocacy tools.

ACLU - Schools in Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools

• This guide is designed for school administrators, teachers, and parents to provide safe, supportive environments for transgender students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Advocates for Youth - Resources and Tools for Professionals

• This web page provides links to a variety of training, curricula, and outreach resources for educators to provide support to the diverse LGBTQ student population.

American Psychological Association - Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth

• This document serves as a primer for principals, educators, and school personnel to make educated, informed decisions when confronting sensitive issues involving gay, lesbian, and bisexual students.

CDC - Protective Factors for LGBTQ Youth

• This CDC list includes research and supportive strategies for educators and health professionals to encourage positive growth and development of LGBTQ youth.

Gender Spectrum

• An educational organization that focuses on issues of gender identity and offers training materials for educators.

Gender Spectrum - Resources for Social Services Professionals

• This site provides professional development and training, resources, and stories from the field specifically for social services professionals working with LGBTQ clients.

​​​​​​GLSEN - Resources for Working with LGBTQ Youth

• GLSEN offers a range of resources for both student-led and educator-driven programs that seek to improve LGBTQ-inclusiveity in schools. These resources include trainings, support with starting a GSA, or using our LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum resources.

GLSEN - Supporting Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Students

• This web page includes an extensive collection of research, personal stories, best practices, and concrete strategies for supporting transgender and GNC youth.

GLSEN - Think B4 You Speak Educator’s Guide

• A guide for those working with teens to decrease anti-LGBTQ language using the “ThinkB4YouSpeak” campaign. The guide includes discussion questions and tips to increase awareness and positive social action.

GLSEN - Working with LGBT Students of Color

• Considerations and practical strategies for teachers with LGBT students of color.

Groundspark - Building Support for Schools that Openly Affirm the Diversity of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

• This guide contains talking points, how-to info, and worksheets to help you persuade your community to take action for schools that are more welcoming and affirming for LGBTQ students.

Learning for Justice - Creating an LGBT-inclusive School Climate

• A best practices guide to establishing an educational atmosphere that is welcoming to all students.

Human Rights Campaign - All Children, All Families

• Promotes LGBTQ-inclusive policies and affirming practices among child welfare agencies and formally recognizes those agencies that are leading the field with innovative approaches to inclusion. This site includes invaluable resources and trainings on making child welfare agencies a more inclusive and safe place for all people

itlmedia - Foster Care’s Invisible Youth

• This video follows LGBTQ youth from the foster care system sharing their stories. Failed by their families, these young people go on to face rejection from foster families, invisibility within the system, and incredible obstacles to healthy development.

Lambda Legal

• A nonprofit committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of LGBT people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. Find national and state-specific resources.

Lambda Legal - Getting Down to Basics: Tools to Support LGBTQ Youth in Care

• This tool kit offers practical tips and information to ensure that LGBTQ young people in care receive the support and services they deserve. Developed in partnership by the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and Lambda Legal, the tool kit gives guidance on an array of issues affecting LGBTQ youth and the adults and organizations who provide them with out-of-home care.

Movement Advancement Project - LGBTQ Equality by State

• Provides information on state laws that impact LGBTQ people.

National Association of Social Workers - LGBT Resources

• This page provides tools, information, and resources to enhance social workers’ capacity to support LGBT persons across the lifespan. The NASW National Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues is comprised of social workers committed to social justice and inclusion.

National Center for Lesbian Rights - Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) Best Practice Guidelines: Serving LGBTQ Youth in Out-of-Home Care

• This easy-to-use resource contains the first-ever set of comprehensive professional guidelines for how child welfare and juvenile justice professionals can best serve LGBTQ youth in state care.

National LGBTQIA+ Education Center - Learning Resources: Webinars in LGBTQIA+ Children and Youth

• An archive of webinars on supporting the health and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ youth, including topics like human trafficking, puberty blockers, obesity, and more.

Our Family Coalition

• Provides professional development and family education workshops for preschool, elementary, middle, and high school communities, and we provide service agencies with the most current information and strategies on how to create more inclusive and respectful services for all families, including LGBTQ families.

Out of Home Youth Advocacy Council - Creating Inclusive Services for LGBT Youth in Out of Home Care Training Resources

• A list of comprehensive training resources to support LGBTQ youth in foster care.

Planned Parenthood - Gender Identity

• Medically accurate resources related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Safe Schools Coalition - Resources for School Administrators

• This resource list includes guides for creating an inclusive school atmosphere using policies that principals and other administrators can implement.

The Safe Zone Project 

• A free online resource providing curricula, activities, and other resources for educators facilitating Safe Zone trainings (sexuality, gender, and LGBTQ+ education sessions), and learners who are hoping to explore these concepts on their own.

Stopbullying.gov

• Resources and guidance for creating safe spaces for LGBTQ youth

​​​​The Trevor Project - Education

• The Trevor Project’s Trainings for Professionals include in-person Ally and CARE trainings designed for adults who work with youth. These trainings help counselors, educators, administrators, school nurses, and social workers discuss LGBTQ-competent suicide prevention.

The Trevor Project - Research Brief: Accepting Adults Reduce Suicide Attempts Among LGBTQ Youth

• This brief draws from The Trevor Project’s National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health to examine the impact of acceptance from multiple types of adults on reducing suicide attempts among LGBTQ youth. Using data from thousands of respondents, this research shows that youth with at least one accepting adult were significantly less likely to report a suicide attempt.

The Trevor Project - Research Brief: Fostering Mental Health of LGBTQ Youth

• This brief provides a summary of existing research on resilience among LGBTQ youth and, in line with Trevor’s life-saving mission, suggests ways that individuals and groups can enhance protective factors to foster positive development for LGBTQ youth.

Whitman-Walker - Trainings

• Offers clinical training and internships to medical and behavioral health practitioners and LGBTQ competency education to licensed professionals, students, agency staff, and community.