Mental Health and Young Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People

Evidence shows that young people are often not attracted to services they perceive as being adult in their structure or content. In order to be fully accessible to young lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people, services have to be appealing to them and  reach out to them more.

There is a need for services which do not specifically address mental health but which do address emotional and mental health needs. Services should provide signposting to other appropriate mental health services if necessary.

Work with young LGB people should be based on engaging effectively and listening to their diverse needs which should enable good work with them.

Most successful work results from spending time listening and talking to young LGB people. This is the key to good practice, as well as having workers who can use their skills in developing sound ideas and taking them forward.

Check out these basic recommendations:

Clients and service users

- Work with young LGB people should be based on principles of equality, respect and trust.

- The safety of the client or group should be paramount when working with young LGB people as this group is at risk of negative responses to their sexuality if they are exposed or ‘outed’.

- Projects and agencies should develop which support young LGB people and provide information, advice and safe spaces to explore their issues and needs. This work was successful in former Connexions services and for drug and alcohol teams doing targeted work with young LGB people.

Delivery of Services

- The project aims and objectives should be clear and transparent and should define the work and the client group you expect to work with. Please see appendix A for information on writing an ASTOR.

- The service should be clear about who is delivering the work and define the sexuality of the target group.

- Any advice or information given to young LGB people should be up to date, accurate, and accessible to all.

- Partnerships should be developed with relevant agencies to provide a signposting and referral system for clients they work with. These agencies should include Drug and Alcohol Teams, Youth Offending Teams, Pupil Referral Units, Local PSHE co-ordinators and sexual health service providers.

Youth Workers

- Services should strive for diversity, promote equality and ensure that all LGB young people are aware that they are welcome. This can be done through publicity and a welcome pack.

- The service should employ workers from diverse backgrounds and ages including volunteers.

- Partnerships should be developed with young people and those working with them, to ensure maximum benefit to young people using services.

- Work with young LGB people needs appropriately trained and skilled staff. It is important to ensure that workers have a clear understanding of current issues for young LGB people, training around HIV and sexual health prevention needs, confidentiality and professional boundaries.

- Staff working with young LGB people need appropriate managerial support.

- Staff working with young LGB people need ongoing training to develop an awareness of the issues facing young LGB people, to develop their skills and challenge heterosexist and homophobic attitudes in practice.

Monitoring and Evaluations

- Data on all aspects of your work should be available for internal and external evaluation.

- Monitoring should include views and feedback from young LGB people who use or have previously used your service, this should be regulated as the project develops.

Training for external professionals

- Planning of any training should identify the training needs of the group or individuals through face-to-face consultation.

- Workers providing the training should work on the principles of equality, respect and trust. Those receiving the training should also abide by these principles.

- Workers delivering training should have experience of groupwork with adults and knowledge of how to challenge heterosexist and homophobic attitudes effectively.

It is often difficult to obtain written examples of previous work undertaken by LGB youth groups. It is imperative that all projects record their work for reference and make this available for others to use where appropriate. In all LGB work with young people it is recognised that ‘taking risks’ and trying new ventures is crucial if services are to continue to develop.

Projects or pieces of work that have not been as successful as hoped can provide invaluable lessons when working with young LGB people, which can then lead to improved services. It is important for all projects and individuals to reflect honestly on their work, and use all of this information positively for the future.

This article was last reviewed on: 27/10/11
Date due for next review: 27/10/13