M. Clark Hoelscher, PhD on LinkedIn: Charlene A. Carruthers (2024)

When I met with family leaders in Saint Paul Public Schools to consider how our facilities could better support our LGBTQIA+ students, the Gender and Sexual Diversity Parent Advisory Council had even broader goals in mind. Every student, every family, every staff, and every community member ought to have access to bathrooms that are safe and functional.#universaldesignforequity

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These are good suggestions for responding in mental health crisis.What I long for, though, is that we rebuild and invest in ensuring all kids proactively experience spaces where they may socially, emotionally, and physically thrive. That is, let's address the conditions that are leaving so many of our children in mental health crisis.

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I'm honored to have recently completed my new GLSEN facilitator training! Please reach out to request a 4 module training (8 hours total) for your school or organization. I have partnered with GLSEN for over a decade because of the organization's deep commitment to intersections of race, ability, and gender. The praxis that GLSEN trains around are strongly rooted in decades of research ensuring that educators and students have the highest "GLSEN research shows that the presence of supportive educators can have a significant positive impact on LGBTQstudents’ academic achievement, as well as on their psychological well-being and long-term educational aspirations. GLSEN Professional Development aims to empower educators to act in solidarity with LGBTQstudents."https://lnkd.in/gppudrvJ

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Students who experience the four support strategies recommended by GLSEN with LGBTQIA+ students at the center -- inclusive and comprehensive policies; student affinity clubs (GSAs); supportive educators; and, inclusive curriculum -- have better health and educational outcomes.What does it mean to be a supportive educator? Getting names and pronouns right is the most essential. It is so important that it is clear in the data that it impacts student's desire to continue living.The passage of laws across the US that interfere with educators' practicing these known research-based and informed strategies will undoubtedly hurt students. It is cruel. It is unnecessary. It is wrong.There is no evidence at all that these supportive strategies negatively impact students who are not LGBTQIA+. In some cases, there is research that indicates that even straight and cisgender students have better outcomes with these in place.From the Minnesota Student Survey:42% of LGBTQIA+/2S youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth. ▪ Transgender and nonbinary youth who reported having pronouns respected by all the people they lived with attempted suicide at half the rate of those who did not have their pronouns respected by anyone with whom they lived. ▪ Transgender and nonbinary youth who were able to change their name and/or gender marker on legal documents, such as driver’s licenses and birth certificates, reported lower rates of attempting suicide.

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Wise words about practice over perfection by Angela Terris. Thanks to GLSEN for introducing me to Angela's work today. 5 Benefits of Practice Making Progress over PerfectionOne: It helps you make progressProgression is all about those small incremental steps forward. It allows for advancement. Often when aiming for perfection you can discount those small steps forward as irrelevant and any tiny wins as unimportant. Recognising the importance of those small steps and wins contributes to boosting your confidence and building self-assurance in your abilities.Two: Brings an understanding of what works and what doesn't workWith practice, experimentation is given room and becomes a vital part of the process. This is what creativity is all about, mixing things up to create the new. It's where the magic happens. Three: Ups your skill levelPractising improves your ability and practical knowledge. It's through these little acts that you can hone your craft. It helps you find more efficient ways of doing things leading to creating inflow and with ease.Four: Creates new habitsTo get the work done we need to commit to it. That book won't get written, the exhibition won't happen or the gig won't get booked if you don't show up and practice. Getting the creative habit of regularly doing the work stops you from just dreaming about it, helps you overcome your fears and gets you to, wow, I have done that!Five: Builds confidenceOften people think they need confidence first before they can do something, that getting confidence is the spark that they need. However, confidence builds when you do those little acts and start to achieve small success. They all help to increase your self-assurance in your talents and faith that things will work out in your favour. Practice and progress come first and with it, confidence grows. https://lnkd.in/gvRppUSQ

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I’m reflecting on Laysha Ward’s sharing this morning. I am sorry for your father’s loss. I wish your family many continued shared stories as you continue to honor his life and all the seeds of change he planted that continue to grow even as he is departed.Recently, several opportunities for deep growth have come to me in the form of conflict. I have chosen to stay in loving engagement as these points of difference in need and value have made themselves clear. My capacity to be with these conflicts largely outside of blame, shame, and fear of punishment was learning I credit from Resmaa Menakem’s first book, Rock the Boat. While walking with these conflicts centering healing justice, I have understood and accepted that I am discerning which of these relationships may need to be released from their current structure. Those decisions about relationship release, even with the possibility of new ways of being in relationship chosen in love and care, still come with grief as the old relationships themselves are brought to closure.As I have navigated this period of change and grief, I am reminded that my leadership depends on my own continued best mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being. Resmaa’s second book, My Grandmother’s Hands has been a salve to that continued healing.Thank you, Laysha Ward. Your sharing has me holding the space firmly for myself. I am not a semiconductor chip nor a gear, I am fully human and all of my humanity is essential to the transformations I hold, walk with, and lead. Honoring myself by making space for wellness and healing is necessary as I contribute to emergent solutions in the 21st century.

I see possibilities everywhere right now. I seek the opportunity to work within a system that is investing in equity transformation. The strategic way in which I work towards liberation is practiced and refined. I lead the work /in/ the work. I believe that transformations towards equity, liberation, and justice are not just destinations -- they are realized in how we work with each other now. Liberation isn't just an "ideal" for me, either. I believe that learning and working in liberated spaces creates the greatest, most fertile space for creativity and growth. Liberated and just working spaces draw and nurture talent. I believe they may produce satisfaction for customers and/ or outcomes for students that are truly exceptional.Please reach out to share about your organization and where my expertise and energy for cultural change may fit. #OpenToWork #CommittedToLiberation

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“For many educators, the work of vulnerability must begin with a deep commitment to seeing Black boys as humans who are worthy of telling their individual stories. Educators must actively pursue getting to know Black boys and must respect the dignity of their lived experiences, ways of life, and the full expression of who they are. This requires that educators reject every stereotype and bias they’ve normalized and accept the full humanity of Black boys.”

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