Youth organisations Jigsaw and Belong To have teamed up to launch a new professional training to help support the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth. Intended for adults who work or volunteer with young people, the programme is now available online on the organisations’ websites.
Titled ‘Supporting the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People’, the free online training offers a programme to upskill on how to support queer youth in the current environment. The course was originally developed in 2016, and this second iteration has been updated to respond to LGBTQ+ youth’s current needs.
The programme takes under two hours to complete and covers topics such as using appropriate language and terminology, understanding the current landscape of LGBTQ+ young people’s mental health, the impact of minority stress and more. Moreover, the training focuses on practical strategies to build resilience among LGBTQ+ young people.
The training comes as recent research from Trinity College Dublin and Belong To, titled Being LGBTQI+ in Ireland, highlighted the challenges that LGBTQ+ young people face in Ireland today. The study revealed that queer youth experiences three times the level of severe and extremely severe symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression; twice the level of suicide ideation; and five times the level of suicide attempts.
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Speaking about the new course, CEO of Belong To Moninne Griffith said: “We’re very proud to be launching this updated training, and very conscious of the current environment in which we’re doing so with an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and a growing, coordinated attempt both internationally and here in Ireland to row back on LGBTQ+ rights.
“Young people see this and feel this. The findings of ‘Being LGBTQI+ in Ireland’ revealed last year are upsetting, but to those of us working to support LGBTQI+ people, unfortunately they are not surprising.”
Dr Joseph Duffy, CEO at Jigsaw, echoed these words, saying: “People working and volunteering with youth have a huge opportunity to support them in a way that can really change lives.
“Being able to support young people through challenges being faced at a critical time in their development can have a huge and lasting impact. This training has been developed to provide anyone in this position with the knowledge and understanding to be able to support LGBTQ+ young people who we know need that support now.”
If you’d like to start the training course, check out this link.
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