The NASW MD Committee on Aging invites you to a FREE presentation entitled “SERVING UNIQUE POPULATIONS: THE SENIOR LGBTQ COMMUNITY” on 5/21/19 between 5-6:15 pm by Bettina Straight, an Organizational Development Consultant at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD. You can participate and see PowerPoints online using your computer or attend in person at the NASW MD Chapter office at 5750 Executive Dr., Ste. 100, Baltimore, MD. Please register early. Licensed attendees will receive certificate for 1 Category 1 CEU upon completion of the on line program evaluation. Social work students will gain knowledge about disparities, diversity and serving older adults and their caregivers. Please feel free distribute the attached program flyer broadly to other social workers and students interested in this important topic as we have the capacity to support a large number of online participants. PROGRAM CONTENT AND GOALS The Committee on Aging remains committed to workforce development. We have decided to offer one training opportunity per year to support and engage social workers serving older adults, BSW and MSW students on our committee, and BSW and MSW students at local schools of social work that we partner with. Bettina Straight has successfully presented to Charlestown LTC social workers and we believe her expertise on topics of diversity, leadership and engagement are important and valuable. The session will focus on the unique needs of our older LBGTQ population, provide history and background of the LGBTQ community, discuss caregiving considerations, stereotypes and ways to overcome them, and discuss engaging and supporting members of our communities. Learning goals include the ability to identify unique needs of an older LGBTQ population, the development of new, productive strategies to address instances of bias or discrimination and an increased awareness of unconscious bias in ourselves and others. We believe this topic and other topics that we hope to offer in the future (i.e., the opioids and older adults) will allow students an understanding how older adults are a unique population with a broad range of strengths and vulnerabilities. Please let us know your ideas for future geriatric training programs that you would recommend for the Spring of 2020. Please contact Bob Connolly at 410-382-3247 or Rpc2536@gmail.com if you have questions or have problems registering. We ask you to spread the word by sharing the attached flyer! Please register early for this free program focusing on older adults so we know how many social workers can participate on line or attend in person at the NASW Chapter office. If you can’t attend on 5/21, let Bob know if you would like to hear a session recording.