TYH: Where to find support if you identify as LGBTQ+

“It’s a Queer and Trans group for youth about 18-30 years old. We’ll do discussion nights and we’ll also do social nights and it’s all under a lens of HIV stigma reduction and impact reduction,” said Shane Gillick, Coordinator with Empowerment PG.

And the groups aren’t just for those who identify, it’s support for their parents as well, “oftentimes we get parents who are struggling cause their youth has just come out and they have to go through a whole grieving process because they’re losing the identity of their child and they have to accept this new identity,” said Bryn Hanks, Co-Founder of Gender Outlines PG.

As for the importance of having support groups embedded in our community for our mental health, Mary Lu Spagrud, Manager of Education and Projects with the Canadian Mental Health Association in Prince George says
they are instrumental to our well being.

“We know that people that belong to the LGBTQ+ community are a higher risk of depression, we often see higher cases of anxiety they (are) also a section of the population that are at higher risk of death by suicide. So all of those things are increased risk factors, so having those social supports help balance it out,” said Spagrud.

Spagrud highlights that it is extremely important for “marginalized” groups to have access to support, especially because they quite often lack it.

by Veronica Beltran

TYH: Where to find support if you identify as LGBTQ+

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