{"id":77098,"date":"2022-06-09T17:12:59","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T21:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/?p=77098"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:52:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:52:57","slug":"bgc-strathcona-county-gemstones-program-offers-support-to-2s-lgbtqia-community-and-allies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/bgc-strathcona-county-gemstones-program-offers-support-to-2s-lgbtqia-community-and-allies\/","title":{"rendered":"BGC Strathcona County \u201cGemstones\u201d program offers support to 2S & LGBTQIA+ community and allies"},"content":{"rendered":"

BGC Strathcona County<\/a> (formerly Boys and Girls Club of Strathcona County), <\/span>located <\/span>in Alberta, <\/span>has <\/span>created a <\/span>barrier-free program <\/span>called Gemstones where 2S & LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies can have a space to learn, grow, and be authentic.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gemstones<\/span><\/span> has been the Club\u2019s most in demand program (both online and in-person) since its creation.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The <\/span><\/span>Gemstones program team<\/span><\/span> has<\/span> handled organizing Pride Month activities for youth at their CanTeen <\/span>location and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>has <\/span>supported initiatives like certifying the CanTeen location as \u201cTransFriendly\u201d approved.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Gemstones<\/span> has been recognized across all the high schools and junior high schools in the area and has <\/span>been supported by mental and physical health institutions found in Strathcona County as a reliable space for youth to flourish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Local community organizations <\/span>including <\/span>Altview<\/span>, <\/span>Saffron, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Treatment <\/span>Center<\/span>, and the Strathcona County Mental Health Capacity Builders have provided resources and encouragement to round out the Gemstones program.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mental health is a priority in the Gemstones program and <\/span>w<\/span>ith the help of <\/span>community supporters, they<\/span> have<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>found a <\/span>s<\/span>eat at the table <\/span>w<\/span>hen it comes to youth mental health in Strathcona County.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Thank you to Best Buy Canada<\/a> for helping BGC Canada<\/a> celebrate Pride month and amplify stories of 2S & LGBTQIA+ youth, staff, and volunteers at their Clubs<\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BGC Strathcona County (formerly Boys and Girls Club of Strathcona County), located in Alberta, has created a barrier-free program called Gemstones where 2S & LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies can have a space to learn, grow, and be authentic. Gemstones has been the Club\u2019s most in demand program (both online and in-person) since its creation. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[279,798,88,799,260,800,145],"class_list":["post-77098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bgc-news","tag-2s-lgbtqia","tag-best-buy-canada","tag-bgc-canada","tag-bgc-strathcona-county","tag-mental-health","tag-pride-month","tag-youth"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77098"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90733,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77098\/revisions\/90733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}