Inclusive Clinical Environments Training
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Tuesday, April 28, 2026
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
ChangeLine
601 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Providing high-quality care extends beyond diagnosis and treatment. Creating Inclusive Clinical Environments is designed to support physicians in strengthening the culture, awareness, and systems within their practices to better serve LGBTQ+ patients.
This program is not a clinical treatment course. Instead, it offers a thoughtful, evidence-informed discussion about health disparities, professional responsibility, and practical steps that foster trust, safety, and respect in clinical settings.
Participants will:
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- Recognize why LGBTQ+ individuals experience health disparities and why safer, inclusive spaces matter
- Define relational safety and explore strategies that strengthen the patient-provider relationship, including trauma-informed and harm-reduction approaches
- Identify ways to promote environmental safety through visual cues, administrative processes, and best practices in SOGI data collection and record keeping
- Review key aspects of Colorado law that protect access to LGBTQ+ affirming care
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This session is intended to support physicians in cultivating practice environments that reflect professionalism, awareness, and patient-centered care.
We invite you to register and join the conversation.
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Nico Wilkinson (they/he)
Nico serves as the Outreach Coordinator at Inside Out Youth Services, where they've been a dedicated team member since 2021. Drawing on years of organizing experience, Nico coordinates efforts to mobilize supporters and expand impact through allyship trainings, advocacy initiatives, and strategic community outreach alongside the IOYS Outreach team. Outside of work, he is a poet, printmaker, and teaching artist whose work can be found at www.nicowilkinson.com.
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Ollie Glessner (they/them)
Ollie is the Advocacy Director at Inside Out Youth Services, which builds access, equity, and power with LGBTQIA2+ youth. They have the privilege of supporting their amazing team in making safer spaces throughout the Tava-Kaavi (Pikes Peak) region through trainings, strategic communications, local and statewide advocacy, and policy consultation. Ollie’s goal is to ensure every young person in the region knows IOYS is here for them, and every adult knows how to support the LGBTQIA2+ youth in their lives. Ollie is a former journalist and longtime resident of Colorado Springs, with a passion for the queer community. In their free time, Ollie likes to write, play video games, and spend time with their wife and four beautiful cats.
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Melissa Chizmar (she/they)
Melissa is the Health Equity Manager at ChangeLine, overseeing LGBTQ+ health equity efforts. They work closely with mental and physical health providers to increase access to affirming care in the Pikes Peak region through trainings, communities of practice, coalition building, and open dialogue. She also manages a Community Advisory Council composed of LGBTQ+ community members with lived experience navigating the healthcare system that steers the work. Melissa has lived in Colorado Springs since 2011 and enjoyed a career in HIV prevention and public health before exploring the capacity building side of LGBTQ+ healthcare. Outside of work, she can be found hiking and climbing in the mountains, listening to live music, trying New York Times five-star recipes, and spending time with their partner and friends.
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© 2026 El Paso County Medical Society. All rights reserved.
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