Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth: Challenges, Resources, & Professional Resilience

Helping professionals will learn to support LGBTQ+ youth by gaining the information & resources needed to serve effectively with resilience.

Note: This course is offered via Zoom. You will receive additional instructions and a Zoom link in your confirmation email, one week before the training. We will send another reminder 24 hours before the session starts. They will be sent by the Institute for Human Services from the following email address: training@ihs-trainet.com. You may want to add this email to your contact list to ensure it comes through. Please check your spam folder in case you don’t receive the first email. Sometimes, employers’ firewalls and filtering services block communication from unrecognizable email addresses. We recommend including an alternative email address to prevent this.

Course Overview

LGBTQ+ youth, like all young people, require environments that nurture their physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. They face unique challenges due to stigma, discrimination, and a lack of understanding, which can impact their developmental outcomes. LGBTQ+ youth can be at higher risk for suicidal ideation, self-harm, running away, homelessness, abuse, and commercial sexual exploitation of children. These youth and their families benefit from the support of compassionate, informed professionals to provide services, information, and advocacy.

The LGBTQ+ community intersects with many other identities and communities. It is imperative that professionals maintain awareness of the intersectional needs of youth. In addition, professionals supporting the needs of LGBTQ+ youth need to factor in the rise of political initiatives to reduce or ban support of this population. This leads to ethical dilemmas and the risk of moral injury to the professional.

Youth need consistent caring support from adults who are knowledgeable, well-resourced, and resilient. Professional self-care is critical for these adults to continue providing ethical, responsive care to the diverse youth in the LGBTQ+ community.

This intermediate-level course is appropriate for social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other human services professionals serving LGBTQ+ youth.

Course Objectives

Participants will be able to:

1. Describe the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ youth due to stigma, discrimination, and lack of understanding, including intersectional identities.

2. Identify a variety of approaches and interventions that support the developmental needs of LGBTQ+ youth.

3. Create a list of resources for support, advocacy, and information to benefit LGBTQ+ youth, their families, and their communities.

4. Discuss the awareness and implementation of professional self-care so that providers can maintain the resilience needed to provide ethical, responsive care to LGBTQ+ youth.

View additional information and the course agenda

Continuing Education

This training is approved for 3 Social Work CE Credits. See additional information below.

Institute for Human Services, provider #1802, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 03/26/2026 – 03/25/2029. Social workers completing this course receive 3 general or cultural competence continuing education credits.

To earn CE credits, participants must attend the session in its entirety, remain on camera, complete an evaluation, and pay the $15 CE fee at the time of registration.

The Institute for Human Services understands that circumstances may arise that prevent registrants from attending a prepaid training. A training and continuing education credit (minus the Eventbrite platform fee and any credit card fees) will be refunded if a registrant cancels their training attendance on the registration platform at least 7 days before the training event. If the registrant does not cancel within 7 days of the continuing education session, no refund will be issued.

View Our Grievance and Refund Policy

Questions? Email training@ihs-trainet.com or contact our office at 614-251-6000 Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. EDT. If you need additional accessibility supports, please contact us in advance of the training to make necessary arrangements.

Reminder: This virtual workshop will take place from 1 p.m. – 4:15 PM (EDT) and includes a 15-minute break. Please make note of the time zone.

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Laura Gaines, MSW, LISW-S

Laura A. Gaines is a social worker (LISW-S) specializing in child development, mental health, trauma-informed care, and resilience. She worked as a child and adolescent mental health clinician for 20 years. She is a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ youth and adults. Her experience includes supporting families of children and adults with developmental disabilities, and extensive training experience in child welfare and ethics. An engaging presenter, she has developed and presented hundreds of training sessions over 30 years. As the director of Individual Solutions, LLC, she understands the need for professional self-care to continue working as an effective and ethical professional. She and her wife enjoy living in Columbus, Ohio, as a home base for their travels.