Members of the public and health professionals will now be able to benefit from dedicated mental health LGBTQIA+ training, delivered by the training team at CPSL Mind.
The LGBTQ+ Mental Health in the Workplace Survey 2024 revealed a number of concerning statistics relating to workplace experiences and the LGBTQ+ community. These included:
- Almost half (44.6%) of LGBTQ+ professionals worldwide reported a history of depression. In the UK, this number is 45.3%.
- This rises to 53.3% for trans and non-binary respondents and a staggering 59% for bi+/plurisexual individuals.
- 1/3 LGBTQ+ professionals worldwide have a generalised anxiety disorder.
- 86.3% of LGBTQ+ professionals said they didn’t feel safe to be their authentic selves. In the UK 38% said they could be their authentic self in the workplace.
- 51% said they had been misgendered or deadnames in the workplace.
Younger people aged 18-25 years have reported significant mental health challenges in the workplace. The Positive Futures Report, 2023 reported that:
- 74% of LGBTQ+ 18-25 year olds had experienced suicidal thoughts.
- 19% of LGBTQ+ adults experience bullying in the workplace. This is compared to 14% for cis-straight people.
- 9 in 1o LGBTQ+ young people aged 18-25 had experienced depression, anxiety or panic attacks within the last year.
The CPSL Mind LGBTQIA+ training will initially focus on the forms of discrimination and makes some reference to how the Equality Act protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.
The Metropolitan Police defines a hate crime as ‘Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race or perceived race; religion or perceived religion; sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; disability or perceived disability and any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.’ The training will equip participants with the legal definitions relating to discrimination and explores the challenges faced by the LGBTQIA+ community – challenges such as the community feeling marginalized in the workplace.
A key part of the training will share firsthand accounts and reflections on the term ‘coming out’ and people’s perceptions. Training participants will be able to gain a good understanding on what it means for people to choose to share their LGBTQ+ identity with people they know whether it’s a positive or negative experience.
The training is centered around how the experience of sharing your LGBTQ+ identity can impact people’s mental health, and the training group will hear lived experience comments to understand how people might feel during this time.
As a result of this course, participants will be able to:
- identify discrimination towards the LGBTQIA+ community.
- understand potential anxieties about ‘coming out’.
- understand why the LGBTQIA+ community are at high risk of mental health problems.
- identify some signs of anxiety, low body in , self-harm/suicidal thoughts, and substance abuse.
- be aware of sources of support.
Catherine Melia, Training and Consultancy Coordinator/Trainer at CPSL Mind said, “For a long time, identifying as LGBTQIA+ was classed as a mental illness. We now know that is not the case, however the community are at risk of experiencing mental health problems.”
“The course is so important because it includes lived experience examples which show both the negative and positive impact that being in the LGBTQIA+ community has had on people’s mental health. This means that we can better understand the huge impact of a supportive environment. The CPSL Mind training team looks forward to welcoming new course participants in the coming months and we will share the impact of the training on people in our diverse communities.”
Listen to Catherine’s video message about the training below:
To sign up to the training, please contact the team at: training@cpslmind.org.uk
