Trails Carolina Announces GEMS Symposium

Trails Carolina is proud to announce the Gender Education and Demystification Symposium to be held on January 28-29, 2016 in Asheville, NC.

GEMS is designed to offer a clinical and educational perspective regarding gender identity. Educational Consultants, clinicians, and program staff who are interested in learning more about shaping the conversation regarding gender awareness and acceptance in the mental health industry are encouraged to attend. Symposium attendees will be given an opportunity to hear from the nations leading experts and attend break-out sessions covering a wide range of topics focused on assisting transgender children, adolescents and young adults.

Keynote Speakers include Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, Stephen Rosenthal, M.D., Ryan Sallans, Asaf Orr, Esq., Transgender Youth Project Staff Attorney.

Dr. Ehrensaft is the Director of Mental Health and founding member of the Child and Adolescent Gender Center-a partnership between the University and community agencies to provide comprehensive interdisciplinary services and advocacy to gender nonconforming/ transgender children and youth and their families, the attending psychologist at the CAGC clinic at the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at University of California San Francisco, and practicing developmental and clinical psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her research and writing focus on the areas of child development, gender, parenting, parent-child relationships, and psychological issues for families using assisted reproductive technology. She has published several books and articles in these areas and lectures and makes media appearances nationally and internationally on these topics. She is the author of Gender Born, Gender Made and the forthcoming book, The Gender Creative Child. Her areas of specialization include: gender nonconforming and transgender children; families using assisted reproductive technology; divorce and custody issues; autism, children with developmental problems; parenting. She also serves on the Board of Gender Spectrum, a national organization offering educational, training and advocacy services to promote gender acceptance for youth of all diverse genders. Dr. Ehrensaft received both her bachelor's degree and her doctorate at the University of Michigan. Information about Gender Spectrum can be obtained at www.genderspectrum.org.

Dr. Stephen M. Rosenthal is program director for Pediatric Endocrinology, director of the Endocrine Clinics, co-director of the Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) Clinic and co-founder of the Pediatric Diabetes Program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. He is also a professor of clinical pediatrics t UCSF. In addition, Rosenthal led an effort to create the Child and Adolescent Gender Center (CAGC), a program that brings together experts from many disciplines to provide comprehensive medical and mental health care, as well as education and advocacy, for gender non-conforming/transgender youth and adolescents. Rosenthal earned a bachelor's degree at Yale University and a medical degree at Columbia University, where he also completed a residency in pediatrics. He completed a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at UCSF.

After starting his transition from female-to-male in 2005, Ryan Sallans began sharing his personal story, while also exploring ways to increase access to healthcare and inclusion for transgender communities. Today, Ryan is known as an international speaker, trainer and author of the book, Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Love and Life.

Asaf Orr joined NCLR in February 2012 as a Staff Attorney and works on issues related to families and youth. Asaf began his legal career as a Staff Attorney and Tom Steel Fellow at a non-profit legal services organization, where he directed the Rainbow Rights Project, a project that represents youth in education-related matters who are denied their right to an education on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition to his work on the Rainbow Rights Project, Asaf represented students with disabilities in special education matters before the Office of Administrative Hearings and federal court. Asaf also provided trainings to students, parents, educators, health care providers, and lawyers on special education issues and the rights of LGBTQ youth in schools around the country. After graduating magna cum laude from Rutgers School of Law in Newark in 2008, Asaf clerked for The Honorable Virginia A. Long on the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

A formal invitation including all sponsors and symposium registration information be sent via email in October.

Trails Carolina is a wilderness therapy program based just outside of Asheville, North Carolina that offers a multi-dimensional wilderness therapy model to troubled adolescents, ages 10-17.