**Please note - in this episode there is mention of crisis, therapy experiences that are not safe to come out to the professional and feelings around struggling in the current climate with LGBTQIA+ people being politicised.
Ever had your sexual or gender orientation assumed? What if the person assuming was supposed to be creating a psychological safe space for you? What if you didn't have the capacity or energy to correct them?
Good mental health is so important for everyone on this planet. But as LGBTQIA+ people we can experience additional barriers to mental health support. That’s why it is so vital that we find spaces where we can be ourselves, be vulnerable, and find the right person who can truly empathise and understand our needs.
This is why we spoke Leeds LGBT+ Minds group who are co-producing support services for LGBTQIA+ people by LGBTQIA+ patients and practitioners.
Please do listen to Beth Stepan (she/her), Uzayr Khan (he/him) and Noah Roberts (they/them) as they discuss their experiences with mental health services and how they are producing a Zine for the Leeds LGBTQIA+ community to help everyone access the mental health support they need.
Beth Stepan (she/her), Coproduction Coordinator - Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service
[pronounced b-EH-th steh-PAN]
"I've been working at Leeds Mental Wellbeing Service for four years now, and the most important part of my role for me has always been to work towards better inclusion and accessibility for everyone. As a queer person with my own experience of mental health difficulties and using services, I was keen to be involved in the Leeds LGBT+ Minds project from the start. In my current role, I'm coordinating the project and grateful to connect with others and share peer support, creativity and activism."
Email Beth at bstepan@touchstonesupport.org.uk
Uzayr Khan (he/him), Student volunteer
[pronounced Uz-air Khan]
"As a queer POC, every day feels like a fight for representation. I see more queer people around me than before, but I don’t relate to most. It takes the efforts of people like Tan France to fuel us with the drive to put more of ourselves out there.
"It’s hard, but it’s necessary. We exist and I am here to prove we aren’t going anywhere. I know what it’s like to feel like you’re not in control of your life, coming from a not so accepting secondary school and struggling to find my place within my family.
"I know what having someone like me in a podcast would’ve meant for younger me, so I do this for him. He’s seen, he’s heard and he’s accepted, just as we all deserve to be."
Find Uzayr on Instagram.
Daisy Chain (their Zine) is available here.
Here is a link to Switchboard the national LGBTQIA+ support line should you need any support.
Have a question or want to learn more about Proud Changemakers?
Then reach out to us across any of our networks at https://linktr.ee/proudchangemakers
Music was by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay
Proud Changemakers exists to empower the LGBTQIA+ voluntary sector and civil society leaders of tomorrow. The community supports and champions LGBTQIA+ and other leaders and civil society organisations. Proud Changemakers is a community, a network and a group, organised and coordinated by volunteers. This is a new, emerging and developing community, which welcomes new members, connections, funders and supporters.
Proud Changemakers aims to:
Champion and support LGBTQIA+ leaders, staff and volunteers and organisations
Provide advice, guidance and support to educate non-LGBTQIA+ leaders and organisations
Create and improve cultures of inclusion and belonging for all LGBTQIA+ staff and volunteers, and organisations
Provide a safe space and community for LGBTQIA+ people, to celebrate each others’ achievements, demonstrate solidarity and share learning and experiences.
