Get to know our Trainings and Education Manager, Drew Crawford!
0:00: I'm like a duck on top of the water.
0:03: I'm very calm under the water.
0:04: I am furiously moving.
0:07: Hi and welcome to Positively a podcast by positive images.
0:11: Today, we're sitting down with our educations and trainings manager Drew Crawford.
0:16: Enjoy positive images.
0:29: My name is Drew Rose.
0:31: My pronouns are he, they and I'm the education and training manager at positive images.
0:37: What are your top three passions?
0:40: My top three passions are swimming is my newest passion.
0:46: I've really been enjoying being in the water and feeling embodied and it's been really like soothing for me.
0:55: I think it's because I'm a fire sign and another passion of mine is connecting people to resources.
1:03: I love sharing information and helping people feel like they know where to go for.
1:08: Support.
1:09: Another passion of mine is my family Bobby and Tucker.
1:17: Bobby is my partner of 16 years and Tucker is our rescue pup who's 11.
1:23: Now, if you were a dog, what breed would you be?
1:27: If I were a dog?
1:29: I would be hypoallergenic so that more people could pet me.
1:34: And I think I would be a poodle mix just because that's what I've had and the dogs that have found their way to me and I just love them.
1:45: How would your friends describe you?
1:49: I would say my friends would describe me as calm, even though I'm like a duck on top of the water, I'm very calm under the water.
1:58: I'm furiously moving.
2:01: I would say, hopefully they see me as somebody with a lot of empathy and compassion.
2:10: And I would say they would probably say that I am adventurous and that I like to do things that are like thrilling.
2:25: For instance, we went to the Yuba like a month ago and I ended up just swimming down the current over and over again without a floaty.
2:33: It was just such a thrill.
2:36: Positive images does not endorse participating in water sports without a floaty or an adequate flotation device.
2:43: How did you first hear of positive images?
2:46: Actually, I first heard of positive images when I moved here about 12 years ago.
2:53: After a few weeks, I started looking for a place where I could go to feel safe as an LGBT Q person.
3:02: And I ended up at a Thursday night group and there were probably like 60 people there.
3:09: And it was really amazing to see people of all ages actually, at that point and it was run by youth leadership and it just was really cool to see people holding space and, and supporting each other.
3:26: You come to us with a background in teaching.
3:28: Can you tell us a little bit about that?
3:30: Sure.
3:31: As a teacher I taught for three years, I taught 5th and 6th grade and I noticed that there are so many di there are so many districts in our county, there are 41 districts and so every district is different, every school is different.
3:50: And I noticed there were students being left behind with big classrooms, not enough, one on one time with students, not enough resources for new teachers.
4:03: And I noticed a lot of students just feeling left out and excluded and unsafe.
4:09: And so that really propelled me to sort of focus on LGBT Q students and youth to try to support them.
4:20: How did you make the jump from teaching to supporting teachers in your current role at P I?
4:24: So as a teacher, I was feeling disillusioned with the profession because of a lack of resources and because it felt really impersonal with my students.
4:39: And I wasn't allowed to be out as a new teacher.
4:43: It was sort of expected that you were closeted until you got your tenure.
4:48: And so that kind of led me to leave teaching and I just happened to find a position at P I really, shortly after that and it felt like it really aligned with what I do.
5:05: And now it, we've created this position so that I can go into schools and support teachers, students, parents in helping schools be more inclusive for LGBT Q I A plus students.
5:21: And what's the most rewarding part of working for P I I would say the most rewarding part of working at positive images is to see youth come back to us after they have left their school.
5:34: Maybe they have a job, maybe they are going to college to see them having community already through us and to be able to come back and share their victories, share their successes.
5:51: That is hugely rewarding because I know that those youth came here when they really needed support.
6:00: And we can see that it is really helping our youth be feel more connected, feel more supported and be able to live their authentic truth and to shine their light for other people as well.
6:17: So what are you up to when you're in the office?
6:21: When I'm at work?
6:22: I am doing a lot of scheduling trainings which has been really great to have people call us and really want us to come in and help support them.
6:34: I am also helping people change their legal name, their gender.
6:40: I'm able to do help people with that paperwork and I am also designing our trainings to make them more interactive, make them more culturally relevant and collaborating with a lot of our amazing staff.
6:59: Now that we have quadrupled our staff in the past year, it's been really exciting, really, life giving and it's been amazing to learn from all these amazing people.
7:10: I get to work with.
7:12: What do you wish people knew about positive images?
7:15: I really wish that people knew what it feels like to be in a supportive space at positive images because it has a life altering effect.
7:31: If folks come in here and are able to connect to other people, it's really we work really hard to create a safe space where people can authentically be themselves and sometimes that can be really hard to find outside of here.
7:49: So it is a really special place and I want people to come in and sort of find that connection for themselves.
7:58: Thank you so much for sitting down with us, Drew and to all of our listeners.
8:02: I hope you enjoyed this episode.
8:04: As always, if you're interested in seeing this interview in video format, you can head on over to our Instagram at positive images.
8:11: We'll see you next time.
8:13: Hello.
8:16: It, the future of positive images is looking bright and we hope that you'll join us along our journey.
8:22: You can check out our website pas images dot org, that's P OS images dot org and see our community calendar for fun things coming up in community and opportunities to join our peer support groups.
8:34: You can also drop into the center from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.
8:39: We would love to see you there.
8:41: Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at positive images to stay up to date with the absolute latest.
8:47: Until next time I have been chase overhaul director of development for positive images.
8:52: And this has been positively positive images.
9:06: What you're still here, that must mean that you really love us.
9:10: If you are willing and able, you can always support positive images by making a donation.
9:16: Did you know that by making a donation of only $5 a month, you help us out immensely.
9:22: We're using this money to continue to support the LGBT Q I A two S plus community right here in Sonoma County.
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