{"id":742,"date":"2024-10-11T10:03:25","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T09:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/?p=742"},"modified":"2024-10-11T15:43:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T14:43:38","slug":"world-mental-health-day-and-lgbtq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/2024\/10\/11\/world-mental-health-day-and-lgbtq\/","title":{"rendered":"World Mental Health Day and LGBTQ+"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thank you to committee member Judith who has written this blog for World Mental Health Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, we all know about mental health and wellbeing, right? The university offers all sorts of support, from the Wellbeing Champions and specific topic and group networks through to the Health Assured support service. If you don\u2019t then give them a quick search on the University Website.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But as an LGBT+ person, there are additional stresses that can threaten our wellbeing and affect our mental health. These can range from slight awkwardness when not looking at the boys like the other girls to a feeling that you are wrong, broken and not worthy of anyone\u2019s love or attention. There are also a wide range of issues within the remit of \u2018LGBT+\u2019 that other people just do not have to deal with and have probably never occurred to them.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this blog I don\u2019t want to dwell on the fact there is a higher incidence of mental health issues within the community but rather the fact that there <\/span>is<\/span><\/b> help and belonging out there \u2013 and lots of it! A good start if you feel lonely, isolated and feel you cannot talk to anyone is to contact Kaleidoscope, it is what we are here for. We are always willing to make time, especially if coffee is involved.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When searching the internet there are many sites which will outline the problems, the discrimination, the statistics, etc. If you are already finding life difficult as an LGBT+ person you are probably well aware of these, and I don\u2019t find that listing them is at all helpful.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although many specific mental health organisations and charities for the LGBT+ community are focussed on cities such as London and Manchester they often have helplines and resources which are available wherever you happen to be. I have selected a few below that you may find helpful:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/mindout.org.uk\/<\/span><\/a> - Based in Brighton and Hove but has support and advice for all. Nice bright and welcoming website too!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theproudtrust.org\/proud-connections\/<\/span><\/a> - For young people 16-19 and adults supporting them. Maybe not our age group, but useful anyway<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/switchboard.lgbt\/<\/span><\/a> - national LGBTQIA+ support line. Contact by phone, email or online chat<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/pinktherapy.com\/<\/span><\/a> - a directory of qualified LGBTQIA+ friendly therapists and counsellors. Also has a helpful list of questions to ask a potential therapist\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of these sites have further links so there should be something helpful for you. If not, please approach the committee and we can help you find what you need.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, please, please be assured, you are <\/span>not <\/span><\/b>wrong or broken and you are absolutely worthy of love and attention, especially your own!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thank you to committee member Judith who has written this blog for World Mental Health Day:   So, we all know about mental health and wellbeing, right? The university offers all sorts of support, from the Wellbeing Champions and specific...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1267,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[144,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lgbtq","category-notable-days"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd4Pwk-bY","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1267"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/kaleidoscope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}