Frequently Asked Questions

Pacific Pride Foundation takes a lifespan approach to LGBTQ+ Programming, with all offerings  inclusive of Transgender and Gender Diverse individuals, including…

PROUD LGBTQ+ Youth Program (12 – 17 years):

• Santa Barbara Virtual PROUD Youth Group  for therapeutic social support. 
• Santa Maria in-person PROUD Youth Group. 
• PROUD Prom, open to LGBTQ+ youth, 12 – 17 years, across the Central Coast.

Support for Caregivers and Families of LGBTQ+ Individuals:

• Online resource center at PacificPrideFoundation.org
• High-quality sliding scale therapy for caregivers, parents, family, and friends working toward accepting their LGBTQ+ loved one.
• Active referrals to partner organizations like Santa Barbara Transgender Advocacy Network & SB PFLAG.

Middle and High School Outreach:

• LGBTQ+ School Club support—including curricula building and execution, youth leadership support, and teacher adviser coaching.
• Safe Schools Survey—designed and administered once in Fall and once in Spring of school year, collecting student reports of homophobia and transphobia at school.
• In-class presentations on sexual orientation and gender diversity at teacher and administrator request.
• Training UCSB Teacher Training Candidates in LGBTQ+ K – 12 Sensitivity.
• Supporting targeted youth school initiatives, such as advocating for all-gender restrooms where existing single-stalls are available—or observing Transgender Day of Remembrance on campus.

LGBTQ+ Sensitivity Trainings:

• Pacific Pride Foundation offers a variety of trainings that can be tailored to any site’s needs or area of focus.
• Most organizations request our LGBTQ+ 101, which covers the vocabulary needed to understand and welcome people of all sexualities and genders.
• Presentations cover all Transgender & Gender Diverse identities and Sexual Orientations in full (with full attention given to Bisexuality, Biphobia, and Bi-invisibility).
• Current presentation series include:
  • Four-part “Welcoming” series: “Welcoming Gender Diversity in Children,” “Welcoming LGBTQ+ Adolescents,” “Welcoming Parents & Families of LGBTQ+ Individuals,” “Welcoming LGBT Elders.”
  • Three-part “Supporting Survivors” series: “Supporting LGBTQ+ Survivors of Sexual Assault,” “Supporting LGBTQ+ Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence,” and “Supporting LGBTQ+ Survivors of Family Abuse/Rejection.”
• Replete with the latest research, lesser-known LGBTQ+ histories, and with your field’s professional best practices—our trainings are grounded in cultural competency and the direct acknowledgment that LGBTQ+ people of color, of elderhood, of diverse abilities and citizenship statuses present differing constellations of experience and oppression that require unique and nuanced care.

Lavender Elders Program:

• The group meets every other Thursday at 12 pm. We alternate between meeting on Zoom and meeting for an in-person lunch at Jill’s Place.
• Actively present LGBT+ sensitivity trainings to area senior care facilities, alongside a panel of LGBT+ elder volunteers who speak from their own experience and support increased learning for senior care support staff and residents.

Our LGBTQ+ Outreach Advocate provides individualized trainings in-house to groups of 4 – 6 individuals, the cost of which varies depending on the number of participants. 

All of PPF’s sensitivity trainings provide full coverage of Transgender and Gender Diverse identities—an important concern for our LGBTQ+ Outreach Advocate, who identifies as transgender (agender) and queer. Whether as part of a full LGBTQ+ training (paired with Sexualities 101), or whether as a specialized module focusing just on Gender Diversity, PPF can tailor a training to suit your needs.

PPF is a training center for Marriage and Family Therapists, meaning that the counselor you would be seeing is currently in graduate school and working on accumulating their clinical hours towards licensure. They are overseen by a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist called a clinical supervisor whom they meet with on a weekly basis to discuss their cases and arrange treatment plans. All our student counselors specialize in treating LGBTQ+ related issues and are focused on providing our clients with gender affirming care.

Yes, we do! Clients seeking services in Spanish can call our counseling office line at 805-963-3636 ext. 103 or fill out our online inquiry form to request counseling services in Spanish. Our bilingual counselors have a special interest in working with LBGTQ+ clients within the Latinx community.

Yes, we do! Clients can meet with their assigned counselor either in person at our office at 608 Anacapa Street, Suite A, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, or online via our HIPAA protected platform with Google Meet. Clients can specify which delivery method they would prefer when they set up their intake appointment.

At this time we do not provide services on the weekends, but we are able to see clients in the evenings both online and in person until up to 7pm on weeknights, depending on our counselors’ availability.

You can fill out our online inquiry form or call our counseling office phone number at 805-963-3636, ext. 103. You can also email us at counseling@pacificpridefoudnation.org.

• We are expanding our definition of prevention and incorporating conversations and education around HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (known as PrEP).
• We offer our HIV and Hep C educational and harm reduction presentations county-wide.
• We provide Syringe Exchange as a means of prevention.

One proven method of preventing the spread of HIV & Hep C is to offer injection drug users harm reduction counseling and syringe services—as exposure to both HIV and Hep C can occur from sharing unsterilized needles. PPF offers harm reduction, risk assessment, sterile syringes and various other supplies and materials to help reduce the spread of blood born pathogens and support those who may be struggling with substance dependency. Click here to see our SSP schedule!

In 2014-15, PPF collected 68,976 contaminated syringes, supported 394 unique clients via 1,286 discrete exchanges and distributed 54,654 sterile syringes. Our Syringe Exchange staff offer each exchange client harm reduction counseling, frefer interested clients to substance abuse treatment programs and to other resources—including the many LGBTQ+-friendly Anonymous sobriety groups that meet weekly in PPF’s offices.