Culture of
Health Leaders
Alumni

Landon (LJ) Woolston

Landon (LJ) Woolston
Location: Miami, Florida Cohort Start Year: 2018 Project Topics: Addiction and Substance Abuse, Built Environment/Housing/Planning, Business/Private Sector, Community/Civic Engagement, Criminal Justice, Disability Inclusion, Education, Employment, Leadership Development, LGBTQ Homelessness, LGBTQ+ Health, Public, Population and Community Health, Racial Justice, Sexual Health, Social Sector/Non-Profit Populations Served: Adolescents (12-20 years), Adults (21-64 years), African-American/Black, At-Risk/Vulnerable Populations, Children and Families, Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Users, Foster Youth and Families, Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, Homeless Populations, Immigrants and Refugees, Incarcerated or Formerly Incarcerated Populations, LGBTQ+ Communities, Low-Income Communities, People Living with HIV/AIDS, People with Addictions, People with Disabilities, Urban Communities, Victims of Crime
Founder
Transpire Trainings & Consulting, LLC

FOCUS
In America, both LGBTQ youth and adults face disproportionate levels of victimization, substance use, mental/physical illnesses, and suicidality. And with trans people being four times as likely as cisgender people to make less than $10,000 a year, commercial and survival sex work is prevalent in trans/non-binary communities.

As a social worker, LJ Woolston supported and advocated alongside queer/trans youth experiencing homelessness in Miami for over half a decade. During his tenure, LJ witnessed a plethora of systemic and institutional failures that had profoundly negative impacts on his clients. Many of the very same issues also impacted his partner, Diana, a trans-identified sex worker who took her life in 2016. In an effort to make spaces, services, and support more accessible and affirming for both his clients and queer/trans loved ones, LJ has crafted and delivered trainings on LGBTQ topics since 2013. In 2019, he channeled the breadth of his lived and professional experiences into his own training/consulting entity, Transpire Trainings & Consulting, LLC.

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE: Establish Diana’s Place to Address LGBTQ Homelessness in South Florida
Homelessness has a disproportionate impact on people who identify as LGBTQ. Many queer and trans people experiencing homelessness also suffer from challenges with health and mental healthcare, the ability to obtain and maintain stable employment, substance use and addiction, and scarce access to affirming psychosocial resources. There are no organizations in South Florida dedicated exclusively to LGBTQ homelessness. In honor of Diana Hemingway, a Broward-based transgender activist who died by suicide in 2016 at just 46 years old (in large part due to episodic homelessness), Diana’s Place is an attempt to fill massive gaps in service delivery by addressing not only the experience of homelessness for LGBTQ people, but also its root causes and the associated trauma. Recently, in the embryonic stages of development, we partnered with La Gringa Platanada, a nonprofit law firm, to handle the legal formation of the organization, and we are exploring other potential partnerships.

MORE ABOUT LJ
LJ (he/him & they/them) is a Miami-born queer/trans social worker, activist, artist, and Point Foundation Alumni. With a deep commitment to consciousness-raising, collective liberation, healing, and social justice, LJ launched Transpire Trainings & Consulting in 2019. Transpire offers training, speaking, and consulting for organizations, corporations, and service providers committed to creating inclusive, affirming, and equitable spaces and workplaces.

LJ’S WORK AND VISION
Podcasts/Interviews/Trainings:

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Writing:

Co-Authorship/Consulting:

Community Organizing:

Click here to watch LJ’s Legacy Project video.

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