Trans-Parenting:
6 weeks of mutual support and community building for parents and loved ones of trans, transitioning, non-binary and gender-fluid children.
Presented in collaboration with SEA Change Consulting!
Wednesdays: February 10 - March 17, 2021, 5 - 7 PM Pacific
This unique space will be facilitated by mother/child team Kellie and Ein Shaw, with additional support from Theresa Logan. Parents, family members and loved-ones of trans, transitioning, non-binary and gender-fluid youth are invited to join Kellie and Ein as they share the hard-won lessons learned through Ein’s transition, and create a space to:
share resources and advocacy strategies,
discuss challenges and difficulties,
build community and mutual support.
Trans, transitioning and non-binary youth are welcome to participate with their parents and will be provided separate breakout spaces, facilitated by Ein, to share and discuss their own perspectives and experiences in a confidential youth-centered and facilitated space.
For us, “parents” means every primary caretaker and legal guardian - all family structures are welcome in this space. Caretakers, loved ones and teachers seeking more resources to support the youth in their lives are welcome to participate, with the understanding that we will primarily focus on the parent/child relationship.
What will we do in this space?
We will share some lessons from our own experience about:
honoring your own emotional responses and challenges while fully supporting and validating your child’s identity.
gender-expansive parenting strategies
successful (and not so) advocacy strategies,
managing relationships with friends and relatives who are not supportive,
minimizing and coping with the harms your child experiences navigating a cis-centered world.
These sessions will also be responsive and emergent - meaning, it depends on what you want/need/bring to the space! We will invest in community building and getting to know one another, and we’ll use our facilitation expertise to create a space where we can all learn from and support one another on this journey of growth and exploration.
Participation Requirements:
In order to participate in this course, you must already:
Believe that Black Lives Matter.
Have a basic understanding of the structural nature of racism and intersecting systems of oppression.
Be committed to identifying and dismantling oppressive patterns in yourself and in society.
Please contact theresa@subductionconsulting.com if you have any questions about these requirements.
Meet your Facilitators:
Kellie Shaw
Kellie Shaw is a Facilitator, Mediator, Life Coach and Community Activist from Portland, OR, and founder of SEA Change Consulting. For over 25 years, Kellie has worked to interrupt white supremacy culture and create safe spaces for Black and Brown communities. She has previously stated that one of her biggest goals in life is to create sustainable wealth and resourses for BIPOC and Queer folks. So far, her biggest success in doing such has been establishing The Poetic Justice Foundation, and providing a variety of community trainings.
Ein Shaw
Ein is a 17-year-old mentor, mediator, activist and artist. From the young age of six, while just in first grade, Ein was trained for and became a peer mediator. They conducted peer mediations with positive impact throughout elementary & middle school. Once in high school Ein chose to expand their interest in social justice by taking a wide variety of racial equity trainings as well as a 40-hour mediation course. Since then Ein has co-trained a variety of trainings in micro-aggressions, racial equity, white supremacy culture and more.
They currently seek every opportunity to offer support to other trans youth. Whether it is a listening ear, providing resources or anything in between, Ein faces challenges and conflict head-on and with open arms. In addition to attending a local high school, Ein is part of two bands – one Indie Rock, the other Grunge – where they play bass and electric guitar.
Theresa Logan
Theresa is a facilitator, trainer and consultant in Portland, Oregon, and a single mother of 3 biracial Black children, one of whom identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. I have learned so much from my relationship with Kellie and Ein over the years, and I am so excited to collaborate with them on this invaluable community offering.
Accessibility & Fair Exchange
We live in a society built through exploitation and extraction that does not value everyone’s time and energy equally and encourages us to try to get as much as possible for as little as possible. To make this unique space as accessible as possible to community members and provide fair exchange for the time, energy and experience the facilitators are investing in creating it, we are offering a family participation fee on a sliding scale of $120 - $600 (that breaks down to $20 - $100 for each week of the series and includes optional participation for your child and/or co-parents.
Those who are able to pay more help support access for those who can’t pay much while making this a sustainable project for the facilitation team.
Please take a minute to mindfully consider what fee is both a meaningful contribution and within your means to pay?
If you navigate the world as a white person, please consider doubling your contribution as an act of racial solidarity with Kellie and Ein.
If the low end of the sliding scale is still inaccessible for you, for any reason, please apply for a scholarship here.