In these unprecedented times during the Covid19 outbreak, the team at LGBT Youth Scotland are exploring new ways to deliver our services, support young people and protect our staff.
As our world changes around us, our aim is to continue to offer consistency and accessibility to those who need our help the most.
We’ve run digital youth work services for some time now, and these have built the foundation of our plans for next few months.
As government advice changes and our strategy evolves over the coming weeks, we will be detailing all our services on this web page alongside simple guidance for how to access them.
Youth Groups
All of our youth groups are now running… on Discord!
We’ve set up a safe Discord server for the regular attendees of our regional youth groups, and they’re running at the usual group times, supervised and facilitated by our youth work staff.
You can expect focused discussions, fun workshops and the opportunity to keep that LGBT community dynamic alive while we can’t meet in person.
Join a youth group as a new member
If you're aged between 13 and 25, you can request to join one using the usual process: find the group that’s closest to you on our Youth Group Map then email info@lgbtyouth.org.uk with your location, age, and preferred youth group. if you're not sure which group is best for you, we can help you find one.
Live Chat
The Live Chat feature of our website is the fastest way to chat directly with trained youth workers in real-time about whatever is on your mind. This service is open to young people aged 13 to 25. The team are fantastic listeners (readers) and are well-equipped to signpost you to other services that might be helpful during this time.
It's text-based: you don't need to speak over voice or video and can remain anonymous if you like.
Sessions run at the following times:
For more details and some frequently asked questions about the service, go here.
Text message & email support
If our Live Chat service isn’t running, you can also access support from our Digital Youth Workers using our text message service. This is available Monday to Friday, for young people aged 13 to 25 on 07786 202 370. Simply send a text to the number introducing yourself and mentioning roughly what you’d like to talk about. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
If your issue is better suited to an email, you can also contact the same Digital Youth Workers by emailing info@lgbtyouth.org.uk.
Social media
Our social media accounts are great places to get information, updates and advice during this time of physical distancing. We use each platform in a slightly different way: