Derry & Strabane Council to set up working group to support the LGBTQIA+ community

It follows a presentation by spokespersons for the Rainbow Project, Northern Ireland’s foremost LGBTQIA+ health and wellbeing charity , at Tuesday’s Health and Community Committee meeting.

Health and Wellbeing officer, James McGoldrick, said the Project works alongside organisations like Victim Support, the PSNI, the NHS, and the Equality Commission, receiving around 120 referrals per month for services.

Services include sexual health support, counselling, mental health advocacy, and youth and adult social groups.

“We have a centre in the city,” Mr McGoldrick said. “But the Rainbow Project is unique in Derry because our Rainbow Youth Service only exists in the Derry and Strabane area. We are the only LGBTQIA+ organisation in the area for both youth and adults.”

Policy, Campaigns and Communication Manager, Alexa Moore, said many of the services the Project provides, especially counselling, were developed as a a “remedy for failing statutory services”.

“They’re simply ill-equipped to support the communities we serve,” she said. “And many individuals receive substandard support and care if they can access statutory mental health services.

“Sometimes when someone goes to a mental health service, here or elsewhere, they may get a counsellor who has never met or supported an LGBT person before. In our service that just doesn’t happen, because we’re all LGBTQIA+ and have that community background.

“But currently our waiting list [for counselling] is around six to nine months, which illustrates the demand and also the lack of funding and support.

“We have between five and ten counsellors across Northern Ireland, supporting countless people.”

SDLP Councillor Catherine McDaid said counselling provision for a potential 120 people every month, by only ten counsellors, was “untenable and the result of a failing statutory service”.

Councillor McDaid added: “I work in mental health and I can see a need for staff training and awareness training, specifically around this group.”

She proposed the formation of a working group, which will include a quarterly meeting with the Rainbow Project and any other relevant LGBTQIA+ services, to “identify ways Council can raise awareness and support the LGBTQIA+ community.”

Andrew Balfour,

Local Democracy Reporter