This workshop will be taught and facilitated by Malakai Coté, PhD and Shawn V. Giammattei, PhD.

Malakai Coté, PhD (he/him or they/them), is a licensed psychologist and executive director with expertise in holistic healing and interconnection. He holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oregon and has experience in university counseling centers and community mental health settings. Dr. Coté is the Executive Director of the Gender Health Center in Sacramento, CA, which focuses on ending the pathologization of trans people and improving healthcare access for Queer, Transgender, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (QTBIPOC). He also operates an independent practice in the Greater Sacramento area and provides clinical training and supervision at the Healing Space in Santa Barbara, CA. Additionally, Dr. Coté is a founding member and Vice President of the Greater Sacramento Association of Black Psychologists (GSABPsi).

His ethic of care is rooted in the principles and values of African-centered psychology and liberation psychology. He specializes in serving the diverse needs of Queer, Same-Gender-Loving, Trans, Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color across the lifespan. They have developed expertise in providing culturally specific and LGBTQ+ liberatory mental health services, clinical supervision, program development, and evaluation consultation services with community-based organizations. They also provide professional development and continuing education workshops addressing transgender healthcare, diversity, inclusion, and belonging across identity intersections, and African-centered healing approaches. Additionally, Dr. Coté is a trained yoga teacher, and they integrate gentle movement, meditation, and breathwork into their practice.

Dr. Coté was born and raised on lands stewarded by the Kickapoo and Kaw/Kansa peoples on Turtle Island. He proudly identifies as a descendent of the Mende peoples who resided in present-day Sierra Leone and his paternal and maternal ancestors survived enslavement. They are a spouse, guide parent, puppy parent, uncle, sibling, nephew, cousin, and adult child of two loving and hardworking parents with a solid extended kin core. They proudly and unapologetically identify under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. He is an active member of Beta Gamma Chi Fraternity, Incorporated.

Shawn V. Giammattei, PhD is a clinical family psychologist in private practice in Northern CA and the Associate Director of Mental Health for the Child and Adolescent Gender Center at UCSF, Benioff Children’s Hospital. He is the founder & CEO of the Gender Health Training Institute, which is dedicated to training providers in culturally attuned, trauma-informed, family-centered, gender affirmative care, the TransFamily Alliance, an educational, resource, and support community for parents with gender diverse offspring, and Quest Family Therapy, a group family therapy practice and training program in California focused on the intersections of queer & gender affirming care, family/community systems, Ecotherapy, and culturally attuned/trauma informed practices.

He specializes in family therapy with couples, families, and individuals across the lifespan, with a particular focus on transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth and their families. He is a GEI SOC8 certified Mentor for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is on faculty for their Global Education Institute. He is also a trans-health researcher, author, international speaker, and professor teaching graduate and post-graduate courses in LGBTQ psychology and family systems. He is an advisory member of Mind the Gap, a group dedicated to gender affirming care for trans youth and their families, a past officer and board member of the American Family Therapy Academy and the Association of Family Therapists of Northern California, and the author of several articles and book chapters on gender, sexuality, and family work.

Dr. Giammattei’s mission in life is to be a bridge across difference to build community and heal separations: separations from self, from each other, from community, from the world, and beyond. He is passionate about leading people on deep personal journeys in Nature, and helping them integrate these experiences into their daily lives and relationships. He currently resides in Northern California on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Southern Pomo and Kashia people. He is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, identifies as a queer man who was assigned female at birth. He is happily married to his spouse of 32 years, is deeply connected to his family of origin, as well as his family of choice.

**There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program