Creating Safe Environments For Lgbt Students

The importance of creating safe spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students in the school environment cannot be overstated. It is one of the most prominent issues facing school professionals today, and its success has lasting, positive effects on the entire student body. Drawing on the expertise of researchers and practitioners, Creating Safe and Supportive Learning Environments provides a comprehensive examination of the topics most relevant for school professionals. The first section lays out the theoretical foundation and background school professionals need to understand the social and political trends that impact LGBTQ individuals, the development of sexual orientation and gender identity, risk and resilience factors, and the intersection of LGBTQ identity with other aspects of diversity. The second section explores topics critical for the development of safe, supportive school environments, including understanding legal and ethical mandates, training school personnel, addressing bullying and harassment, and developing inclusive classrooms. Special topics related to counseling LGBTQ students, supporting families of LGBTQ students, becoming an ally and advocate in the schools, and connecting with community resources are also covered. CE credit is available to purchasers of this book at www.mensanapublications.com.

Make sure your Catholic school's LGBT students are getting the support they need Creating Safe Environments for LGBT Students is a comprehensive training guidebook for educators who are committed to diversity and the full inclusion of LGBT students in every aspect of the Catholic high school experience. Based on five years of pilot testing in Catholic schools, this unique book emphasizes safe-staff training in integrating the Church's pastoral, social, and moral dimensions with the special needs of LGBT students. The book presents strategies and resources for building safer schools, helpful materials for communicating with parents, and general guidelines for developing and maintaining professional helping relationships with LGBT students. Based on a “training the trainer” model, Creating Safe Environments for LGBT Students encourages the development of grassroots leadership within the school. This unique book promotes a positive framework for navigating the challenging landscape of the Catholic tradition and the LGBT experience as it helps to establish anti-harassment and anti-bullying protocols for school environments and models for developing LGBT student support groups and gay/straight student alliances. The book promotes role-play by students, alumni, teachers, and parents—a hallmark of the ministry work and training methods of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities—and is flexible enough to allow each school's individual climate and culture to be respected. Creating Safe Environments for LGBT Students includes: * first-hand stories from students and teachers * realistic, dynamic, and creative role-play scenarios that explore various relationships between students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the school board * opening prayer and meditation rituals * a special foreword by Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, one of the few Catholic bishops to publicly affirm LGBT persons * an extensive bibliography and glossary regarding the experiences, language, culture, and spirituality of LGBT youth * the latest research findings on at-risk behaviors of LGBT teenagers * training handouts that are easy to duplicate and use as transparencies * a manual log that can be used as a training diary * and much more! Creating Safe Environments for LGBT Students is an essential resource for faculty and staff members at Catholic high schools, particularly school administrators, chaplains, campus ministers, psychologists, social workers, and counselors.

Safe Is Not Enough illustrates how educators can support the positive development of LGBTQ students in a comprehensive way so as to create truly inclusive school communities. Using examples from classrooms, schools, and districts across the country, Michael Sadowski identifies emerging practices such as creating an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum; fostering a whole-school climate that is supportive of LGBTQ students; providing adults who can act as mentors and role models; and initiating effective family and community outreach programs. While progress on LGBTQ issues in schools remains slow, in many parts of the country schools have begun making strides toward becoming safer, more welcoming places for LGBTQ students. Schools typically achieve this by revising antibullying policies and establishing GSAs (gay-straight student alliances). But it takes more than a deficit-based approach for schools to become places where LGBTQ students can fulfill their potential. In Safe Is Not Enough, Michael Sadowski highlights how educators can make their schools more supportive of LGBTQ students’ positive development and academic success.

This informative title offers students in grades seven to twelve practical ideas for working with teachers, parents, administrators, and other students to make their schools safe and welcoming for LGBTQ+ students. From forming Gay-Straight Alliances or similar clubs to organizing Pride days and working to support LGBTQ+-friendly policies and legislation, readers will learn concrete steps they can take to prevent bullying and make their schools safe and welcoming for everyone. For LGBTQ+ youth as well as their straight allies, this book offers a sensitive and detailed approach to ending LGBTQ+ bullying in schools.

Creating Safe and Supportive Schools and Fostering Students’ Mental Health provides pre- and in-service educators with the tools they need to prevent, pre-empt, handle, and recover from threats to students’ mental health. School safety and fostering a supportive learning environment have always been issues fundamental to educators. Over the last decade, teachers and administrators have been called on more than ever to cope with bullying, suicide, and violence in their schools. Handling every stage of this diverse set of obstacles can be unwieldy for teachers and administrators alike. Framed with interviews from experts on each of the topics, and including practical and applicable examples, this volume draws together the work of top-tier school psychologists into a text designed to work with existing school structures and curricula to make schools safer. A comprehensive and multi-faceted resource, this book integrates leading research with the well-respected Framework for Safe and Successful Schools to help educators support school safety, crisis management, and students' mental health. Featuring interviews with: Dewey G. Cornell, Frank DeAngelis, Beth Doll, Kevin Dwyer, Katie Eklund, Maurice J. Elias, Michele Gay, Ross W. Greene, Rob Horner, Jane Lazarus, Richard Lieberman, Troy Loker, Melissa A. Louvar-Reeves, Terry Molony, Shamika Patton, Donna Poland, Scott Poland, Eric Rossen, Susan M. Swearer, Ken Trump, and Frank Zenere.

Based on extensive research, recent events, and numerous first-person accounts, this revealing book illuminates both the challenges and triumphs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, and offers effective strategies for combating LGBT marginalization in our nation's schools and communities. Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth is the first book to offer a comprehensive view of the complex lives of LGBT youth of all ages, from kindergarten through college. Drawing on a wealth of research collected from first-person accounts of students, family, educators, and community members, the authors not only chronicle the struggles of LGBT youth but also describe models of inclusive school and community environments. The authors address the breadth of experiences of LGBT youth—in and out of the classroom, at home and in the community, and in personal interactions with allies and antagonists. They also reveal how these young people, their friends and families, teachers, and dedicated allies stem the tide of LGBT exclusion. Most important, Safe Spaces offers action steps for readers who want to make their own homes, schools, and communities safe and welcoming spaces for LGBT youth.

“Am I safe here?” LGBTQ students ask this question every day within the school system. In this book, Donn Short treats students as the experts, asking them to shine a light on the marginalization and bullying faced by LGBTQ youth. They insightfully identify that safety comes from a culture that values equity and social justice, not just security cameras, and they envision a future in which LGBTQ youth are an expected, respected, and celebrated part of school life. Am I Safe Here? offers a path to creating equitable and inclusive schools, drawing on the spontaneous and timely words of LGBTQ students to show that nothing less than a total culture change is needed.