Education

Education - and not mere “training” - is a crucial element of all LGBTQIA2S+ advocacy efforts. As founding LGBTQIA+ Program Director at Pacific Pride Foundation, I leveraged SO/GI (Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity) best practices, dynamic experiential learning, and my expertise as a licensed therapist (LMFT) specializing in somatic psychology to shape trainings for diverse audiences across California. These sessions cover important distinctions such as Sexuality, Gender Identity, Medically Assigned Sex at Birth, and Gender Expression, among other related topics.

From preschool teachers to parents, from healthcare professionals to global companies like Deckers Outdoor Corporation (makers of Ugg, Teva, Hoka, and Sanuk), my workshops equip participants with the knowledge necessary to create more welcoming environments for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals of all ages.

The LGBTQIA2S+ education I offer goes beyond a call for emotional justice or kindness. My foci are strategic interventions aimed at addressing the higher rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide faced by LGBTQIA2S+ individuals due to social rejection and isolation, with a focus on the intersectional challenges that particularly affect LGBTQIA2S+ people of color, women/femmes, and transgender individuals.

I am passionate about taking the complexities of our “alphabet coalition” to audiences who are eager to dismantle their implicit biases. I hold the fervent belief that understanding and supporting us is not as hard as it may seem, despite the initial discomforts that always follow integrating new information. Please join me in opening more doors for LGBTQIA2S+ people everywhere, and for more details on my effectiveness as an educator, please see below!

Cheers!
~PatrickLyra