Community Advocacy
In addition to providing exceptional behavioral healthcare for our clients, we also value and support active engagement with our local community.
We recognize that advocacy includes community-building, and at Kindred Psychology we seek to be a safe space for community members looking to gather, learn, and connect with resources. We host LGBTQ+ affirming community-wide events, such as the following:
- Listening Sessions with Nebraska State Senators to educate, inform, and support progressive policies that protect our community
- Friendsgiving potlucks to gather with chosen family at a time that is often challenging for many
- Spring picnics to kick off summer and pride with a potluck in the park
- Collaborations with Winslow’s Wardrobe to offer a space for folks to browse, try on, and snag some gender affirming pieces for their wardrobes
- Supportive open-door events after difficult elections and in response to difficult community losses
Additionally, Kindred Psychology staff facilitate a Community Group, where folks can learn about and discuss specific topics related to our needs, like healthcare, navigating relationships, and accessing resources. To stay in the loop with our Community Group offerings, join our mailing list (don’t worry – no spam here! Expect only 1-2 emails a month!):
Much of our mission is realized one client at a time, one hour at a time. We also recognize that progressive social changes and inclusive legislation is necessary to support everyone’s mental health. Helping to advance these cultural changes requires us to leave our offices and meaningfully connect with the world outside. We are honored to collaborate with other organizations to sponsor events that share our core values of inclusion and affirming all people. See below for a few examples of what we do and where we’ve been.
- Staff members have trained with Transgender Training Institute as Trainers to provide tailored training programs for schools, businesses, and organizations seeking to increase cultural competence with transgender students, employees, and consumers.
- Partnered with UNL Teacher Learning Teacher Education Department for their Wellness & Well-Being Colloquia. Together with Raul Palacios, spoke to pre-service teachers about recognizing and intervening with student mental health difficulties in the classroom, as well as prioritizing teacher self-care.
- Facilitated ‘Fostering Well-Being in Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth: Essentials for Educators’ at the UNL Spring Wellness and Well-Being Colloquium for pre-service teachers.
- Served on the Gender Eligibility Committee of the Nebraska State Activities Association to improve access to school-sponsored activities for transgender and gender diverse youth.
- Provided training to staff at agencies such as BraveBe (formerly Child Advocacy Center) on providing sensitive and affirming services to transgender and gender diverse youth and families served at their agency.
- Testified to the Lincoln City Council about a ban prohibiting Conversion Therapy for LGBTQ+ youth. This ban was successfully passed, ensuring kids in Lincoln are safe from this dangerous and ineffective practice.
- Testified during legislative hearings opposing bans on gender affirming care for youth, bans limiting participation in school activities for transgender youth, and provided supportive testimony for a state-wide ban on Conversion Therapy.
Since opening our doors in January of 2019, we have sponsored events such as Star City Pride, Prairie Pride Film Festival, Grounded Nebraska, and endorsed organizations like QueerPop, which align with our mission to support and uplift the queer and trans communities in our area.
On a national level, Kindred Psychology is an official endorser of International Pronouns Day. Together with other progressive businesses, nonprofits, colleges and universities, government, community groups, and related organizations, we appear on their website declaring solidarity with the following statement:
“We endorse International Pronouns Day, which seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace. Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity. Being referred to by the wrong pronouns particularly affects transgender and gender nonconforming people. Together, we can transform society to celebrate people’s multiple, intersecting identities.”