BACH's CROPs SPRING SGM Workshop Series

BACH’s CROPs Spring 2026 Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Well-Being Series is designed for social workers, LPCs, public health professionals, clinicians, educators, and other allied health and community-serving professionals. This four-part, CEU-approved series will be offered in a hybrid format (in-person and via Zoom) from March through June 2026, with each session focused on advancing holistic wellness, resilience, and empowerment among sexual and gender minority communities.

The series will address the following thematic areas: 

Transgender and Gender-Fluid Resilience (March), Queer Women and Wellness (April), Same-Gender-Loving Men: Creating Wholeness (May), and Sexual and Gender Minority Empowerment and Health (June). In collaboration with multiple community partners, these sessions will integrate lived experience, clinical insight, and public health research. Specific dates, speakers, and panelists will be confirmed and shared soon; more details forthcoming.

This series is developed by an interdisciplinary team of professors, practitioners, and social scientists: Alaiyia Williams, DSW, LCSW-BACS; DelRio Cole, DSW(c), LMSW, HIVPCP; Michael Benjamin-Robinson, DSW, LCSW-BACS, FNAP; and Earl N. Benjamin-Robinson, DrHSc, CPH, FNAP. Their collective expertise spans behavioral health, public health, social science, clinical practice, and community engagement. Grounded in evidence-based frameworks including Minority Stress Theory, intersectionality, the social-ecological model, and trauma-informed care, the series emphasizes applied learning, reflective practice, and translational relevance for real-world professional settings.

Throughout the series, participants will engage in compassionate dialogue, evidence-informed strategies, and peer-centered learning. Sessions will explore the complex intersections of identity, environment, health systems, and social determinants that shape SGM well-being, while promoting affirming, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed approaches to care and community engagement.

HIV/AIDS, mental health, and other syndemic conditions will serve as foundational pillars of the series, ensuring that interconnected health challenges affecting SGM populations remain central rather than peripheral to professional practice. By integrating clinical, behavioral, and structural perspectives, the series supports sustainable, equity-centered approaches to healing, prevention, and empowerment.

Through this initiative, BACH’s CROPs continues its commitment to capacity-building, workforce development, and community-rooted public health practice, strengthening systems of care that promote dignity, access, and well-being for sexual and gender minority communities.