We are a community for people with lived experience of mental health to campaign for change.
Content note; this piece contains discussions of LGBTQ+ and mental health issues.
The Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire LGBTQ+ Mental Health Lived Experience Steering Group is excited to launch a micro-grants fund for projects that will raise awareness or shine a light on mental wellbeing in the LGBTQ+ community. The fund is being launched with support from the LGBTQ+ Voice & Influence Partnership.
Funded projects will result in people being more informed and aware of what good mental wellbeing or mental health looks like for people who identify as LGBTQ+.
There are four one-off funding grants of up to £250 available. This is a total funding pot of £1000 available.
Ideally, projects will engage a range of people, including;
- trans people
- older people who identify as LGBTQ+
- those who identify as non-binary
- members of BAME communities who identify as LGBTQ+
Sam, on behalf of the LGBTQ+ Mental Health Steering Group, said:
“We are excited this launch this fund as one of the first projects of the LGBTQ+ Mental Health Lived Experience Steering Group. The fund will support people and groups with ideas of how to raise awareness of mental wellbeing in our community, and we can’t wait to help bring those ideas to life.”
Henry Poultney, Team Manager of LGBTQ+ Youth Work and Development at Off the Record (Bristol), said:
“Members of the LGBTQ+ Voice & Influence Partnership are joining forces with the LGBTQ+ Mental Health Lived Experience Steering Group to deliver funding to individuals and organisations in our local area. We believe that this funding programme will help raise awareness of what positive mental health and wellbeing looks like in the LGBTQ+ community; providing opportunities for new and existing groups to lead the way in making change and creating safe spaces.”
Tom Renhard, CEO of the Independent Mental Health Network, said:
“We know that in the right hands, a little can go a long way – this fund will help bring projects to life. Our network is dedicated to challenging mental health stigma, and this is a great opportunity for people who need support to get their project going.”
Anyone from either the Bristol, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire area who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community can apply for a grant. Organisations can also apply. Organisations do not need to be legally constituted but do require a governing document.
Click here to download an application form. The form will download to your computer in a Microsoft Word document format. If you need an alternative format, or a paper copy of the form, please get in touch.
Any questions about the fund, the Steering Group, or the application form, should be directed to . Applications for this round of funding must be submitted by Monday 26 October 2020 at 09:00.
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Notes to editors
Press contact/enquiries: press[@]imhn.org (take care to remove the square brackets from this email address)
What is the LGBTQ+ Mental Health Lived Experience Steering Group?
This group is a working group in which members can discuss issues, challenges and opportunities particular to the mental wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people. But we don’t just want to talk about these things; we want to help change and develop them. As a team, we’ll be creating and working on projects with the aim to drive positive change for our community within the services.
Why is the group operating in the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire areas?
The health systems of these areas have becoming increasingly unified over recent years. Many mental health services are provided across these three areas collectively. Therefore, the Steering Group works to influence services and support across this combined locality.
What is the Independent Mental Health Network (IMHN)?
IMHN supports and facilitates the running of the Steering Group, and is supporting the administration of this grant fund. IMHN are a member-led organisation that work for and in the interests of people with lived experience of mental health. The network supports work improving local mental health services, contribute and campaign on mental health matters happening both locally and nationally, and actively challenge mental health stigma by working with partner organisations.
What is OTR Bristol?
OTR Bristol is an organisation that provides support to young people aged between 11 and 25 in the Bristol and South Gloucestershire areas. They support the wellbeing of young people who identify as belonging to the LGBTQ+ community via their Freedom project, and are a partner of the local Voice & Influence Partnership.Members of the OTR Bristol team support the running of the Steering Group.
Where can I get further information?
Further reading can be found below.
- Press coverage by Bristol 24/7 covering the launch of the Steering Group: https://www.bristol247.com/lgbtq/features-lgbtq/improving-mental-health-support-for-lgbtq-people/
- A number of members of Bristol Live’s Pink List 2020 support the Steering Group: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/pinc-list-2020-35-most-4508391
- The news article announcing the launch of the Steering Group: https://www.imhn.org/news/bnssg-lgbtq-steering-group
October 9, 2020 at 4:26 pm
Last Friday, the first formal meeting of the BNSSG LGBTQ+ Mental Health Lived Experience Steering Group took place. This was an exciting session because it represented the culmination of a number of planning sessions that have taken place over recent months.
The main part of the meeting was welcoming a co-chair of the local Mental Health & Wellbeing Cell. The main responsibility of this Cell is to allocate emergency funding to support the local mental health system in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
One of the main reasons the Steering Group has formed is because the proposals of how to use emergency funding notably lacked provision for the mental health and wellbeing needs of the LGBTQ+ community. The Steering Group held the Cell to account by raising a number of questions with their guest, including how there can be more embedded co-production with the community in future projects to improve local mental health services.
The Steering Group looks forward to working with the Cell in order to improve dedicated mental health support for people who identify as LGBTQ+. Future meetings of the group will look at future projects that will raise awareness of mental health within the LGBTQ+ community.
October 2, 2020 at 12:45 pm
Click here to be taken to the webpage for the LGBTQ+ Wellbeing Fund
The Independent Mental Health Network (IMHN) is a membership-led organisation that represents a diverse community of past, current and future users of mental health services, as well as those with lived experience of mental health.
By working together, we believe that we can be a force for positive change in the way that mental health is treated, perceived, and recognised.
Our branches lead on work to improve local mental health services, campaign for reforms and changes to the negative ways that mental health problems can be viewed, and act as a local voice for those with a diverse range of lived experiences.
In partnership with Off the Record’s LGBTQ+ Voice and Influence project we are developing a dedicated LGBTQ+ Steering Group for the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) areas to help create a safe and effective space for members of the LGBTQ+ community to come together. Members of the group will be able to voice their lived experience of trying to access mental health support and the quality of any support received.
This will be a working group in which members can discuss issues, challenges and opportunities particular to the mental wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people. But we don’t just want to talk about these things; we want to help change and develop them. As a team, we’ll be creating and working on projects with the aim to drive positive change for our community within the services.
Membership of the group is open to LGBTQ+ individuals across BNSSG and we are keen to ensure that membership grows to fully reflect the diversity within the LGBTQ+ community.
Members of the IMHN team will facilitate Zoom meetings. There will be space for open discussion and identification of key priorities in which the group would like to campaign for change or increased awareness of LGBTQ+ needs.
Group engagement, highlighted issues and resulting project work will be regularly fed back thematically and anonymously into the wider IMHN membership in order to increase awareness of LGBTQ+ needs and experiences. We believe that this will be particularly helpful for the awareness of organisational representatives that attend external meetings, and will ensure that voices of the LGBTQ+ community can be heard and responded to by commissioners and service providers in order to bring about meaningful change.
Please note that meetings will be taking place virtually for the time being. Should meetings be scheduled in-person, out-of-pocket travel expenses associated with attending will be reimbursed. This includes costs like bus tickets or car parking. Should your require taxi this will need to be agreed in advance.
If you’d like to get involved, click here to express your interest
Diversity Statement
This group welcomes all people. As an LGBTQ+ collective, we want to engage people across the spectrums of gender identity and sexuality, race and ethnicity. A person’s faith or beliefs, their relationship status, their employment and housing situations, and their mental and physical health needs are accepted without prejudice or judgement.
We exist to celebrate our rich diversity within our community and to work together. As people of diverse backgrounds, we can help create change that will bring a significant benefit to the community, and to the wider world.
The pandemic has uncovered the inequalities that have been beneath the surface of our society for decades. We believe that the best way forward is to join together and create a safe space for ourselves. We are not a minority and we do not have to be marginalised.
Our differences make us strong. They give us the chance to learn, explore and grow. It’s in our differences that we will find our commonalities and, through sharing our knowledge and experience freely and without fear, we can bring about real change. We can beat oppression and discrimination together.
August 25, 2020 at 10:38 am