WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18
THURSDAY, MARCH 19
This schedule is preliminary and subject to change.
Sessions
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Affirming, Inclusive Reproductive Healthcare for LGBTQ+ Populations
Potomac AThis session includes an overview of LGBTQ+ reproductive health disparities, systemic barriers faced by LGBTQ+ clients navigating reproductive health services, and actionable steps organizations and providers can take to provide affirming, inclusive care.
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Deconstructing Intersectional Trauma: Empowering Black LGBTQIA+ Men in Therapy and Behavioral Health Services
Potomac AThis presentation offers a clinical and social work-centered approach to addressing the mental health needs of Black LGBTQIA+ men through trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and identity-affirming strategies. This session will explore how toxic stress stemming from early-life adversity impacts emotional regulation, relationship-building, and self-worth. Special emphasis will be placed on how systemic oppression, societal stigma, and the lack of culturally competent mental health services heighten these challenges.
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Empowering Health Professionals to Advocate for Gender-Affirming Care: A Multi-Level Approach
Potomac AThis session will train health professionals to become effective advocates for gender-affirming care at the institutional, state, and federal levels. Amid growing legislative, administrative, and regulatory challenges to transgender health care, health professionals have a unique role and responsibility to advocate for inclusive, evidence-based policies. This session will provide participants with actionable tools to address barriers to care, counter misinformation, and build coalitions to support gender-affirming care access.
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Project GROWTH: A Culturally Responsive Workforce Development Program for Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Youth Experiencing Homelessness in Washington, DC
Potomac AThis presentation will share key outcomes, implementation strategies, lessons learned, and future adaptations aimed at reducing barriers and promoting employment equity for TGNC youth. Us Helping Us is also exploring opportunities to expand the program and its impact.
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From Harm Reduction to Gender Joy: Advancing LGBTQ Health Equity Through Affirming Care for Transgender Youth
Potomac AUsing Oregon’s All-Payer All-Claims dataset (2016–2023), this analysis examines GAC utilization among transgender and gender-diverse adolescents, identifying disparities by insurance type, age, and sex assigned at birth—even within one of the nation’s most affirming policy environments. Quantitative findings are contextualized with lived experience: the journey of raising a ten-year-old transgender son, illustrating, through narrative and video excerpts, how timely, evidence-based, and affirming care fosters gender euphoria, confidence, safety, and family cohesion.
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Beyond the Clinic: How Holy Cross Health is Transforming LGBTQ+ Health Through Outreach and Advocacy
Studio FHoly Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is advancing health equity through a comprehensive, community-based approach to HIV prevention and care, STI and Hepatitis C screening, and LGBTQ+ health. Broward County remains one of the nation’s HIV epicenters, with 579 new diagnoses in 2022, far exceeding the national average. Despite this, 96.2 percent of people living with HIV in the county know their status, and 80.8 percent are linked to care within one month. Holy Cross Health’s initiatives, such as community outreach, HIV self-testing, and culturally competent education, are designed to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ individuals who are disproportionately affected by these conditions. The program is led by community advocates and LGBTQ+ healthcare professionals who step beyond traditional clinical roles to engage directly with the community. This session will explore the program’s design, implementation, and measurable impact, offering a replicable model for other health systems.
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OUTSafe: LGBTQ+ Older Adult Violence Prevention Program
Studio FThis SYNC session will lead attendees through the OUTSafe curriculum and resources, offering providers in the field an essential tool to address older adult victimization and a guide for creating safe spaces and safer institutions for older LGBTQ+ adults.
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LGBTQIA+ Health and Community Engagement in a Politically Charged Climate
Studio FThis presentation explores strategies for effective LGBTQIA+ health promotion and community engagement amid a shifting sociopolitical landscape. Drawing on recent case studies, grassroots initiatives, and community-led research, we examine the ways in which LGBTQIA+ individuals and organizations are responding to policy rollbacks and social hostility. We highlight inclusive health interventions, mutual aid networks, and coalition-building as mechanisms for advocacy and care.
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Enhancing Service Delivery by Improving Referral Completion Rates for SDOH Needs
Potomac AClosing the loop on Social Determinants of Health ensures that referrals to supportive services such as housing, food and mental health are not only initiated but also completed, tracked, and resolved, This approach strengthens care coordination, reduces barriers to retention, and promotes health equity by addressing non-medical factors that impact overall well being.
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From Position Paper to Advocacy: The Kentucky Nurses Association LGBTQ+ SNIPg (Special Nursing Interest Practice Group): Leadership Through Advocacy
Potomac AAs a nation, we had made great strides in protecting the basic rights of LGBTQ+ persons including their access to appropriate, quality care. For Kentucky LGBTQ+ persons, the passage of Kentucky SB 150 in 2023, progressively began the stripping away of these rights thus putting their well-being and even their lives at risk.
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SYNCing Integrated Care: Advancing LGBTQ+ Health and HIV Prevention through the CCBHC Model in a Community Behavioral Health Setting
Potomac BHillcrest Children and Family Center, a community-based behavioral health organization in Washington, DC, implemented the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model to expand access and reduce disparities among underserved populations. Serving largely Black and LGBTQ+ communities, Hillcrest’s CCBHC initiative provides an integrated platform for behavioral health, primary care, and prevention services. This framework has strengthened culturally responsive care and enabled the agency to leverage programs, including Ryan White–funded HIV prevention and treatment, to advance health equity and justice.
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Bridging Mental Health Equity and HIV Prevention for LGBTQ+ College Students: A Systematic Review and Public Health Framework for Appalachia
Potomac BLGBTQ+ students in U.S. colleges experience disproportionately high rates of mental health disorders and HIV vulnerability—risks exacerbated in rural and Appalachian regions by structural stigma, provider shortages, and limited-service access. Despite this convergence, few interventions integrate mental health and HIV prevention in campus settings.
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Transgender Empathy Training: Transforming Understanding Into Action
Potomac BTransgender Empathy Training is an interactive, community-centered educational program designed to cultivate cultural humility, deepen understanding, and expand institutional capacity to support transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people. Grounded in trauma-informed care, intersectional analysis, and lived experience, this training moves beyond basic terminology and policy compliance to build genuine human connection and sustained allyship.
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Unhoused and Unheard: Addressing Structural Racism and STI Risk in Queer Youth Care
This presentation examines how housing precarity and systemic bias shape clinical encounters with queer adolescents of color. Drawing from direct clinical practice, supervision, and education within urban community settings, it highlights the ways traditional care models often replicate inequities through rigid policies, pathologizing language, and a lack of intersectional awareness.
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LGBTQIA+ Equity in Nursing
Potomac BThis presentation shares early findings from ANA\California’s LGBTQIA+ Equity in Nursing initiative, led by Advocacy Institute Fellows Dr. Bri DuBose (2024) and Misty Mandeville (2025). The taskforce—formed in January 2024 and composed of nursing leaders, clinicians, and subject-matter experts—designed a structured assessment to benchmark organizational culture, knowledge, reporting comfort, DEIB infrastructure, and hiring practices related to LGBTQIA+ equity.
Accreditation, Credit, and Support
Information on credits offered to SYNC participants for attending institutes, sessions, and plenaries — live or in-person — is available here.
Commercial Support Acknowledgement
This conference is supported, in part, by independent educational grants from ineligible companies. A full list of supporters is available here. All accredited content has been developed and delivered in accordance with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence and the criteria of Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™, and is free of commercial bias.
