The $73 Billion Diet Industry and the $808 Billion Health Care Industry would lead you to believe that the most successful pathway to health and happiness is through weight loss. But what if that hasn’t worked for you? And what about the damage dieting causes? Even when prescribed by a physician, dieting has serious physical and emotional side effects like weight cycling, preoccupation with food and body, disordered eating behaviors, decreased self-esteem, and depression. As a former chronic dieter, Health Coach and Intuitive Eating Counselor, Tracy Hess, helps her clients break free of diets and achieve greater physical, mental, and emotional health AND experience more pleasure in their relationship with food by embracing a non-restrictive Intuitive Eating approach. Learn how to drop the guilt and judgment of diets and enjoy eating again, all while achieving your health and wellness goals in this liberating seminar.

Interest Tags: Aging, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Military/Veterans, Non-Binary, Professional Education, Spouses/Signification Others, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color, Wellness, Youth

At what point did you know you did not quite fit in? That there was something that was not quite ‘right’. "Gender is a reality, and a more fundamental reality than sex.” This will be an allegorical journey. We will take a deep dive into our reality in an effort to sea more clearly. Coming to congruence with who you are and how you got there is serious however…

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Non-Binary, Relationships, Socializing, Spirituality/Religion, Wellness, Workplace, Youth

Learn how to draw on a new brow with Selena. learn to draw, sculpt and create the brow that fits your face.

Interest Tags: Aging, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Non-Binary, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color, Youth

Workshop discussing different challenges youth face and ways to remove barriers to safe spaces. This will be from a trauma informed lens.

Interest Tags: Family/Friends, TransPeople of Color, Wellness, Youth

Together, Beth and Liz will share what blueprints have to do with communication and financial security. Discover what key steps you need to take to help ensure your financial stability. Learn how to plan for your last day and handle financial setbacks any day. No products will be sold. (Presented by Beth McKinley and Liz tattersall)

Interest Tags: Family/Friends, Finance, Legal, Relationships

Come prepared for a wave of compassion, love and support with this opportunity to share and learn real information about your health including effective tools to rediscover the joy of eating and a happier and healthier approach to loving your body. If you are worried about gaining weight from hormones, the stress of surgery and trauma of lifestyle change with transition, this is the group discussion for you led by former chronic dieter and Intuitive Eating Counselor Tracy Hess.

Michael Gingerich and Tom Kaden are the Co-Founders and Co-Chief Encouragement Officers of the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit Someone To Tell It To, which helps the world to listen. They are podcast hosts, the authors of four books, bloggers, and public speakers on the art and science of listening.

Someone To Tell It To's teams of listeners have had more than 18,000 listening interactions during the past decade. We have trained over 800 people to be more intentional and relational listeners, as well. Not only do we listen in person to individuals, families, and groups of people, but we also listen to people virtually - through email, the phone, texting, Facebook private messaging, Zoom, WhatsApp, and other platforms. We meet people where and in whatever forum they are most comfortable and feel safest to share. This also has enabled us to listen to people across 25 U.S. states and 12 nations around the world. Our training work has taken us in businesses, colleges and universities, hospitals and healthcare institutions, schools, places of worship, hospices, funeral homes, civic organizations, and other nonprofits. Our podcasts have featured guest who also value the vital role that listening plays in everyday professional and personal lives. Our books relate stories of the life-changing role that listening plays and offer practical tips on how to listen better to one another to change the culture of organizations and to strengthen relationships in an increasingly fractured, lonely, and emotionally disconnected world.

Our workshop, based on the theme of our third book - "Listening 2by2: A Paradigm Shift for Leaders (That's When the Magic Happens!)" - will feature a short training seminar in Someone To Tell It To's 2by2 listening and presentation model. These six topics will be included:

1. Starting with a Belief (about listening),
2. Creating the Space (for listening),
3. Asking Good Questions (to help others open up and feel safe),
4. Listening Intentionally (for the meaning in what is spoken and unspoken),
5. Reaching for Your Tools (to enable good listening), and
6. Taking Time for Self-Care (since listening is often hard and vulnerable work).

The presentation of the topics will be followed by a series of listening interactions that show both helpful and unhelpful environments and responses for listening well.

Participants will have the opportunity to practice listening in pairs and being listened to by pairs of listeners, and to ask questions about Someone To Tell It To's listening, training, and educational experiences over the past decade.

This workshop will be interactive, relational, and illuminating. It will help participants to better understand the dynamics enabling good listening and will offer the practical tools necessary to growing one's listening abilities.

Interest Tags: Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Relationships, Safety, Socializing, Voice, Wellness, Workplace

Ready to find your inner voice and move to the beat of your own drum? Join handpan musician and the founder of Super Bloom Women’s Handpan Retreat for an interactive and immersive drum circle, play lab, laughter (yoga) and more. Sarah believes that there are musical (creative) seeds in all of us. In cultivating curiosity and imagination these seeds grow, and eventually thrive, if we let them bloom in abundance. This directly ripples into other facets of life. In this Play Lab Workshop, we will explore new beginnings through sound exploration, with the handpan as our guide. The process of discovery doesn’t have to end just because we "become adults"! Channel your inner self, unlock the key to your next personal evolution and share a memorable experience you won’t discover at any other conference. This is an event like no other and you may be surprised the joy that fills your heart and the peace that radiates through your body. No instrumental or musical experience necessary – all are welcome. Recommended to bring water and if you prefer, dress comfortably as you will have an option to sit in a chair or on the floor while holding the instruments.

Interest Tags: Aging, Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Non-Binary, Relationships, Safety, Socializing, Spirituality/Religion, Spouses/Signification Others, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color, Voice, Wellness, Youth

A discussion group led by Sonia Swann, the significant other of a “partly out” partner who is pursuing a Master’s Thesis on the topic. Share your experience, troubleshoot and ask the big questions like how to have a wedding or memorial that honors your entire life and includes all your circles of loved ones. Can’t participate in person? Please support Sonia’s research by completing the anonymous survey at . . .(link to be provided soon). There will be no recordings, and no personal data collected. There will be a person to take notes and snacks!

Join Beth McKinley (she/her) of Roots Financial Group at Thrivent, as she hosts a panel discussion with couples and individuals who have navigated the finances of transitioning. Attendees will learn how to identify values and attitudes about money, set goals- both individually and as a couple- and discover tools and tactics to help you navigate talking about money with your loved ones. No products will be sold.

With the deluge of conflicting and confusing information available, it's hard for families of trans and gender-diverse youth to know where to turn. This workshop is designed to give families an overview of what gender affirming care looks like, how to access care, and how to best support youth and young adults in being their happiest and healthiest selves.

Interest Tags: Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Non-Binary, Professional Education, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color, Youth

Join us for an in-depth workshop about wigs and hair extensions, and gain knowledge about proper application, care, and styling techniques so you can feel like the best version of yourself.

#proudally #saferspace #hairhasnogender

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Non-Binary, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color, Wellness, Youth

Transition occurs on many levels and we are all collectively transitioning now from winter into spring, from the chaos of the outside world into inner peace. Join us for a break from the hustle and bustle of the conference with this relaxing immersive sound meditation which will be infused by the melodic, shamanic qualities of the handpan and frame drum. Interwoven with vocalizations, and an assortment of instruments inspired by the natural world – the 4 elements of Air, Wind, Water & Fire – we will oscillate between the stillness of silence and movement of sound to more deeply integrate elemental balance within. Please arrive comfortably. There will be chairs available for a seated experience, and floor space for a more restful position laying down. Please bring a yoga mat, pillows or bolsters if you wish, and consider bringing water or tea for grounding afterward.

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Aging, Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Non-Binary, Professional Education, Relationships, Socializing, Spirituality/Religion, Spouses/Signification Others, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color, Voice, Wellness, Workplace, Youth

Have you ever heard the word "intersex" before and wondered what it meant? About 2% of the population is intersex, and many of these individuals go through life never knowing it. The two presenters at this workshop, both intersex people, will discuss aspects of living and working in the intersex community. You'll get the intersex 101 and history of key issues for the community, learn important ways you can show up for intersex community members, and hear personal narratives of intersex experiences.

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Image & Presentation, Non-Binary, Relationships, Spouses/Signification Others, Surgery, Youth

Jules X. Grace is a trans non-binary, gender expansive dancer with over ten years of experience in solo and partner dance styles. Through these ten years, dance and movement practices have been some of the main portals to gender euphoria for them. As they learned how to free their body from expected movement types and roles, they found that this same movement gave them new ideas about freeing themselves from oppressive expectations and roles of sexuality and gender. This workshop will be an exploration in solo and partner movement with dance stylings from ecstatic dance, fusion dance, vogue, contemporary and contact improv. We will dive into practicing movement solo and in partnerships as both a lead and a follow. Come along on a journey of music and movement as you are invited to find your own portals to gender euphoria. Comfortable clothing is suggested but not required.

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Aging, Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Non-Binary, Socializing, Spirituality/Religion, Spouses/Signification Others, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color, Wellness, Youth

Living a normal life being happy and my true self as a woman, but God had other plans for me.

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Aging, Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Military/Veterans, Non-Binary, Relationships, Socializing, Spirituality/Religion, Surgery, TransFeminine, TransPeople of Color, Workplace

Stories are powerful things. They can challenge and inspire us. They also help us to connect to each other. By sharing your gender journey story, your challenges, hopes, dreams, and joys you can make important connections. If the story is well thought out and communicated, it can provide compelling context into who you are and an understanding of the “why” behind your gender journey. In this presentation, you will hear video-taped accounts of gender-journey stories from Rabbi Levi Alter and Rev. Monica Joy Cross and what happened as a result of their sharing. Attendees will have an opportunity to frame and share their gender story in a small group. As a minister to the transgender community for over 20 years, I have seen how coming out as trans and attempting to maintain relationships can be difficult to navigate. Although support for those who identify as transgender is gaining advocates, many in business and mainstream faith communities are just ignorant of transgender issues, and therefore unsupportive. Telling our stories can help to change that.

The workshop includes: 1. Workshop outline that covers the how, when, why, who and what of sharing your gender story. This tool will help you understand your motives, who you need to share to and the best timing on when to share your gender journey. 2. There will be a worksheet available for partners and advocates which will cover, “How to support a loved-one’s, partner’s or friend’s gender journey.” 3. Identify potential problem areas with business, family, friends and spiritual community relationships as you share your gender journey. 4. Learn how to connect with others by partnering with them and supporting their stories. 5. Understand the difference between what we want to communicate, what we actually communicate, and how it is received. 6. Age-specific information and how to present it when sharing your story.

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Non-Binary, Relationships, Socializing, Spirituality/Religion, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color

How to talk to our family about our transition. Maintaining healthy communication with family members is a tough dynamic at the best of times, but when a lifelong identity has changed the dynamics of the group shift on many levels and from different perspectives. We will identify strategies to help maintain open communication to avoid the frustration, anger, and pain that can divide us. We will also talk about how to tailor your “coming out”, or discussions about gender, with different members of your family, realizing that different relationships require different approaches.

Interest Tags: Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Relationships

Rev. Dr. Kathryn Helms shares a message of love and hope in the telling of the story of her youngest adult child coming out as transgender male to female approximately one year ago. She speaks of her personal experience as a mom to choose love and shares the love lessons her transgender daughter has taught her. Discussion of their one-year collaboration to write their newest book The Underwater Ballerina: Two Sides to Transition- The Story of a Daughter’s Transition Told Through the Eyes of Herself and her Mother will be included. Personally signed copies or pre-orders will be available for purchase at the workshop.

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Experience Sharing/Discussion, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Relationships, Voice

The presentation will address the multiple traumas encountered by trans* individuals throughout their lifetime. This will include microaggressions, traumas related to daily encounters and brain/body incongruence, and trauma related to systems in which the individuals live. The presentation will, also, address the larger traumas encountered in the forms of transphobia, abuse, and discrimination. Our political climate has altered increasingly since 2016, effecting the trans* community from childhood through adulthood, as well as and the families and professions who support them. Where progress had been achieved, a return to historical phobias and more extensive political oversite now exists due to false facts presented by our political leaders and religious extremists. The current trends, their current impacts, and potential long-term consequences will be addressed in shared examples of client reports in sessions. In addition, statistics and facts established in the previous research conducted by institutions such as the University of Washington related to daily traumas experienced prior to this political change will be shared.

Interest Tags: Advocacy, Family/Friends, Gender Affirming, Legal, Non-Binary, Spouses/Signification Others, TransFeminine, TransMasculine, TransPeople of Color