Continuing Education Courses

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Serving Transgender Clients in Holistic Health Parts I and II (2-hour/2 CEU* each)

Transgender identity is becoming more visible in our culture. As a result, more individuals are feeling comfortable disclosing their identity and living as their true gender expression in their daily lives. For service providers in the helping professions, this means that more transgender clients are seeking massage and other forms of therapeutic touch and holistic healthcare. Transgender clients need culturally competent providers who are aware, affirming, and empowering of their transgender identity as well as knowledgeable in how to address the unique health issues related to their gender non-conforming body.

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Part one of this lecture and discussion course will discuss the responsibilities of providing transgender-affirming care and teach the interpersonal skills needed to be respectful and affirming of transgender clients' identity. 

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Part two will identify some of the unique health issues of transgender clients and explore techniques that support them in making medical and non-medical transitions from their gender assigned at birth to their true gender identity.

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Queer Practitioners Serving Transgender Clients in Holistic Health

(2-hour/2 CEU* each)
Open to LGBTQIA and NB practitioners in all types of holistic, medical, movement, mental health, etc.

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​This course is an adapted version of the introductory for practitioners who are already have extensive experience in their personal and/or professional life with transgender and non-binary identities. The format is faciliated discussion. 

We will discuss the responsibilities of providing transgender-affirming care and strategies of creating inclusive practices and affirming transgender and non-binary clients' identity. Discussion will address unique health issues of transgender clients and explore techniques that support them in making medical and non-medical transitions. 

 

This also serves to seed a network of queer providers that will hopefully be able to create a richer referral network to support the trans and non-binary community.

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Bodywork Techniques for Transgender Clients Who Wear Chest Binders

(8-hour/8 CEU* and 16-hour/16 CEU* formats)

Open to professionals who do hands-on work with clients on physical pain and/or movement. CEUs limited to licensed massage professionals

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This course is designed to give massage therapists (and other professionals in other related fields) a basic understanding of chest binding and key techniques to mitigate the chronic pain and specific complications often experienced by people who wear chest binders in order to flatten their chest as a means of aligning their internal gender identity and their outward gender expression.

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This lecture and discussion section of the course will discuss the responsibilities of providing transgender-affirming care and establish basic interpersonal skills essential to creating safety for trans clients. Brief explanation of the fascial system and the thoracic anatomy will be given but participants should have basic proficiency in anatomy and some prior exposure to the fascial system.

 

The majority of the class is hands-on teaching focused on myofascial release techniques to mitigate chronic chest, shoulder, rib and back pain which are the effects of chest binding. Participants will learn to identify warning signs and contraindications of serious complications in the musculoskeletal system and when myofascial massage is well equipped to intervene. Focus of the class will be practices which can have the most significant impact on the quality of life & health outcomes of  sustained chest binding.

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The 16-hour format includes more techniques and a chance to apply the skills with in-class community volunteers who have chronic pain from binding. 

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*all CEUs awarded through NCBTMB

 

Non-Continuing Education Courses

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Gender Identity Decoded

Open to all who are open-minded

 

Two things that are hard for most people: unlearning habits and learning languages. Join Frances in a compassion-filled environment where you can get your questions answered about gender identity, learn the ins and outs of how to talk about gender in affirming ways, and walk away with concrete strategies to practice your new language (because we all know that new languages are ‘use it or lose it’!)

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This is a class for parents, teachers, grandparents, ministers, yoga instructors, health providers, school bus drivers, day care providers, baristas, HR professionals, siblings, best friends, spouses, bosses, and… and… and….

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Healthy Binding from the Start

Open to people who bind, are considering binding, providers and friends and family 

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Chest binding is an essential part of battling dysphoria and feeling seen in the world as a gender non-conforming person. It also taxes the body and comes with real health risks. Frances is a trans*-identified, non-binary massage therapist who binds and understands both this liberation and these limitations. The class covers: choosing your binder, best binding practices, advice for binding with chronic pain conditions and suggestions for binding in special circumstances (swimming, working out, manual labor, etc)

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Self-Massage for Binding

Limited to individuals who currently bind or have bound in the past

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Binding (using a special garment or tight sports bra to flatten the chest) is a vital tool for many of gender non-conforming people. Unfortunately, it can have serious impacts on the body because of breath constriction, muscle tightness, and alignment. The class addresses chest opening, breathing expansion, upper back & neck release, and rib cage pain relief by teaching a variety of tools for mitigating the impacts of binding through self-massage, stretching and fascial release.

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To book Frances for a training or speaking gig, email frances@freedbodyworks.com

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