Creating An Affirming Workplace Environment
Situation: A nonprofit health and advocacy organization serving people living with or affected by cancer was struggling to establish an LGBTQ-affirming climate for their clients. They were interested in learning how to increase LGBTQ representation among their staff and clients, and how to assess their current organizational climate based on DEI indicators.
Solution: Through modules that I designed and implemented covering terminology, pronouns, allyship, bias/discrimination, micro aggressions, program assessment and evaluation, they were able to learn about LGBTQ identity and how to be affirming in their professional activities. The sessions were highly interactive, including pre-and post-knowledge assessments, and clients consistently demonstrated increased knowledge at the end of the modules. I helped them design an all-inclusive non-discrimination policy, a targeted marketing plan, and taught them strategies for addressing LGBTQ healthcare needs, designing client intake forms, and improving employee and client satisfaction.
Outcomes: The organization staff reported that they felt empowered and comfortable with adopting the use of LGBTQ terminology in team discussions, client discussions, and intake forms. Organization staff who openly identified as LGBTQ reported feeling more recognized by the training. Each week of the training, program quality was consistently rated as good or excellent, and many training attendees made positive comments on the creativity and effectiveness of my training materials. Organization staff reported being impressed by my consistent ability to provide an engaging, informative and skill-building training, in comparison to other less interactive training they had previously attended.
I met with the organization leaders at 3 and 6 months post-training. They assured me that they felt more confident as staff in their ability to work with the LGBTQ community and appreciated all of the strategies I taught them.