2026-2027 SAIGE Emerging Leaders Program

The Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE) mission is to advocate for the voice, equity, and inclusion of LGBTGEQIAP+ persons within the counseling profession and beyond and to promote the professional development of counselors and related professionals to ensure that all LGBTGEQIAP+ individuals receive ethical, culturally inclusive, liberating services that attend to all aspects of their intersectional identities. To help foster this mission, SAIGE is excited to offer an Emerging Leaders Program and seek candidates for the 2026-2027 year. Our emerging leaders are provided mentorship, leadership through the SAIGE Board, and professional opportunities at the annual ACA conference and SAIGE conference, among others. Through this engagement, emerging leaders learn the responsibilities associated with serving in elected leadership positions within our association. After their program year, previous emerging leaders have continued to serve in our organization, at various institutions, and within their communities.

 

A SAIGE Emerging Leader recipient must be a SAIGE member at the time of application and fall into either the Master’s, doctoral, or new professional category. 

 

• Master’s Level: A student in a master’s-level program during the year of service
• Doctoral Level: A student in a doctoral-level program during the year of service
• New Professional: A post-graduate program individual. This individual should have less than one year of work in the field during their year of service.

 

The following are the expectations of the selected Emerging Leaders:

1. Serve for the 2026-2027 FY term (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027)
2. Engage in mentoring related to professional areas of interest
3. Provide service to a SAIGE committee, project, or task
4. Attend monthly SAIGE Executive Board meetings
5. Participate in the 2026 SAIGE Conference. Emerging Leaders will receive a stipend for their attendance.

 

Interested applicants will need to submit the following information to the SAIGE EL Application:

 

1. Professional Identifying Information
2. Application Essay
3. Curriculum vitae or Resume
4. Two letters of support describing your leadership skills and experiences along with your value and interests with LGBTGEQIAP+ issues in counseling

The application should be submitted no later than March 15, 2026 at 11:59pm PST.  The selection committee will notify applicants of the status of their application by April 15, 2026.

If you have any questions, please contact the SAIGE Emerging Leader Committee Chair, Dr. Kate Johnson at emergingleaders@saigecounseling.org.