2025 - 2026 Child Colloquium Series
| Program Title: | Specialized Parent Work: a Critical Element to Supporting the Health of Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender-Exploring Youth |
| Date: | Saturday, January 31, 2026 |
| Time: | 10:00am – 12:00pm |
| Presenter: | Melissa Holub, PhD |
| Case Presenter: | Michelle Jurkiewicz, PsyD |
| Location: | San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis This is an in-person event only; remote participation is not available. |
| Program Fee: | Free |
Research shows* that LGBTQ youth living in highly supportive communities attempt suicide at half the rate of those in unaccepting environments. Clearly, affirming and supportive contexts are profoundly protective for transgender youth. Thus, having parents who can serve as allies and advocates is often pivotal to their children’s survival, as well as to their overall mental and emotional well-being.
This presentation offers an overview of a multifaceted approach to supporting trans, non-binary, and gender-questioning youth by engaging their parents. Dr. Holub will outline the central themes that ground this specific gender work, integrating practical, educational, supportive, and psychoanalytic perspectives. Dr. Michelle Jurkiewicz will present a case that brings many of these themes to life, illustrating the nuances and complexities that frequently emerge in families where gender is a presenting issue.
*The Trevor Project: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2024/
Melissa Holub, PhD is a licensed psychologist and psychoanalyst with licenses in California, New York and Massachusetts. She has been working with individual adults and couples in Berkeley for over 30 years, and has expanded her psychoanalytic thinking to the areas of adoption and gender for the past two decades. She has taught throughout the Bay Area on various topics. She is a personal and supervising analyst and is on faculty at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC).
Michelle Jurkiewicz, PsyD is a licensed clinical psychologist and gender specialist in private practice in Emeryville. She has been providing individual and couples psychotherapy for over 20 years. Dr. Jurkiewicz was an early pioneer in work with transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive youth and is the coauthor (with Diane Ehrensaft, PhD) of Gender Explained: A New Understanding of Identity in a Gender Creative World. In addition to providing direct services, she provides training and consultation around a variety of issues, including using the Gender Affirmative Model.
The Child Colloquium Series are offered free of charge through a generous support of the SFCP and the Sophia Mirviss Fund.