The Pride Resource Center is hosting Safe Zone training sessions this summer to help CSU faculty and staff learn ways to support the LGBTQ community.
Colorado State University’s Pride Resource Center is offering faculty and staff summer training sessions to help them support LGBTQ communities on campus and beyond.
Summer Safe Zone training sessions will be presented July 18 and Aug. 7, from 9 a.m. to noon in the Lory Student Center. Faculty and staff can register online.
Established in 1997, the Pride Resource Center provides support for all CSU community members to explore and increase their understanding of sexual/romantic orientation, gender, and identity intersection.
The three-hour Safe Zone training sessions aim to reduce homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism. The curriculum focuses on knowledge, awareness, skills and action, with participants learning about appropriate language and key issues in the LGBTQ community.
Participants will take part in lectures and discussions and watch videos during the sessions.
Following the training, participants will be added to the Safe Zone Directory, where students can search for faculty and staff for mentorship and support. They also will receive a sticker to post in their office showing their support.
Summer Safe Zone training sessions
Thursday, July 18, 9 a.m.–noon – LSC 328-30
Wednesday, Aug 7, 9 a.m.–noon – LSC 372-74
Registration and additional training sessions listed at https://col.st/dLMR0.
For questions, email Maggie Hendrickson at maggie.hendrickson@colostate.edu.
A critical resource
According to the 2017 National College Health Assessment disseminated by the CSU Health Network, LGBTQ students struggle with issues of mental health at far greater rates than their peers.
Maggie Hendrickson, assistant director of the Pride Resource Center, said this can include academic stress, fear for safety on campus and in the community, and suicide ideation as a result of both intentional and unintentional bias and discrimination.
“Our Safe Zones trainings can have very real impacts in making this campus a safer and a more inclusive place for this community by helping everyone learn more about what allyship, advocacy and support can look and sound like,” Hendrickson said.
Hendrickson added that past participants have said the program has helped them in the classroom and in the workplace as well as at home in some instances.
“We all interact with someone in the LGBTQ community,” Hendrickson said. “This training gives you the ability to really understand their experience better and learn better ways to support and talk to them and love them.”
The Pride Resource Center offers Safe Zone training sessions throughout the year. The training sessions are offered to individuals, departments, classes, student organizations and even groups outside of CSU.
More information on all training sessions and workshops can be found at Pride Resource Center website.
Denver PrideFest and NoCoPRIDE volunteers
The Pride Resource Center also is seeking volunteers for tabling this summer at Denver PrideFest and NoCoPRIDE.
Denver PrideFest starts on Saturday, June 15, in Civic Center Park from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. It concludes on Sunday, June 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. NoCoPRIDE is Sunday, July 21, at Civic Center Park in Fort Collins.
To register to volunteer, visit https://col.st/1I7t5.
