Voices Unheard Peer Consultation: LGBT Young People's Experiences of Relationships and Domestic Abuse
Content Warning: This article contains references to domestic abuse and family-based abuse.
Are you an LGBT young person aged 13-25, living in Scotland?
Then we want to hear from you!
Who are Voices Unheard and what is the consultation about??
Voices Unheard is an LGBT Youth Scotland youth participation project which brings together LGBT young people from across Scotland to raise awareness of LGBT young people’s experiences of domestic abuse and unhealthy relationships.
We have been funded by the Scottish Government to run a consultation to better understand LGBT young people’s experiences in relationships, particularly experiences of abuse or unhealthy behaviours in interpersonal relationships, or families. We want to hear from as many LGBT young people as we can to understand a range of experiences from diverse backgrounds.
You don’t need to have been in a relationship or have experienced any abuse to take part. We will also ask for your ideas on how to make things better for LGBT young people, and will use the consultation findings to develop reports, raise awareness, inform development of resources, and to influence change.
Why is this important?
Growing up as an LGBT person can be isolating, and many of us don’t have experience or knowledge about what’s healthy or not in relationships if we’ve not had healthy role models to look up to. This can lead to unhealthy or abusive behaviours being normalised, and can prevent young people accessing support. Research shows that LGBT young people experience higher rates of abuse in their relationship and families than non-LGBT people, but can struggle to access information or support that is relevant or appropriate.
We hope the consultation helps us identify they types of resources and information LGBT young people need, so we can work with staff, volunteers, and partner organisations to design and develop education and awareness raising tools for young people.
We also want to use the consultation findings to highlight key issues to service providers and decision makers, and to encourage them to consider the needs of LGBT young people in their practice, resources, services, and in legislation and policy.
How can people get involved?
We want as many LGBT young people to get involved as possible, but we also want you to look after yourselves. Please only participate if you feel positive about doing so.
Taking part in this consultation may be triggering or upsetting for some young people, so we encourage you to do a little self-care before and after completing the consultation, and to seek support if you need to.
You can information about reporting domestic abuse and available supports at The LGBT Domestic Abuse Project website.
To take part, please complete the online survey before 30th November 2022.
If you have any questions about this consultation or the Voices Unheard Project, please contact Janice.Stevenson@lgbtyouth.org.uk
You can find the survey link here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VU2022Consultation
