Lys Friedrich from MindOut on the Importance of Mental Health Awareness in the LGBTQ+ Community

Lys Friedrich, Training Programme Manager at MindOut, spoke with myGwork about providing mental health support for members of the LGBTQ+ community. She describes the importance of allyship, and advises how to overcome discrimination in the workplace.

Could you tell us a little bit about your charity and the work that you do?

MindOut is a mental health service run by and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer people. We work to improve the mental health and wellbeing of all LGBTQ+ communities and to make mental health a community concern. We recognize that our communities are wonderfully diverse and welcome all LGBTQ+ people including those who identify as asexual, aromantic, pansexual, non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid and intersex.

Our services are also available to those who may not identify under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, including straight people who have sexual and/or romantic relationships with LGBTQ+ people, men who have sex with men, women who have sex with women, people who previously identified as LGBTQ+ and those who are questioning their sexual and/or gender identities. Our services are for LGBTQ+ people aged 18+ who are based in Brighton and Hove, with the exception of our Online Support service which is available globally.

We provide peer support groups, befriending, low-cost counselling, and one on one advocacy services to our service user population. MindOut is also passionate about helping organizations and professionals to become more confident in supporting LGBTQ+ people, may they be clients, customers, service users or staff. With this aim in mind, MindOut has been providing LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Awareness and Affirmative Practice Training across public, private and the third sectors for the last 13 years.

What advice do you have for those who want to support LGBTQ+ rights?

Allies can leverage their power by listening to LGBTQ+ people with mental health challenges and advocating for the specific care and needs of this population. We can disrupt homophobic, biphobic and transphobic discrimination when we see it, but we can also work on a systemic level to undo the conditions under which LGBTQ+ people currently suffer.

What are the challenges you face at work?

LGBTQ+ people face specific mental health disparities when compared to our cisgender and straight counterparts and these need to be addressed in workplaces, as well as in social and support structures. LGBTQ+ folks face unemployment, underemployment, housing insecurity, barriers to accessing health care, in addition to facing the daily stigma and discrimination of being LGBTQ+ and having a mental health condition. For all of these reasons and more, MindOut runs a peer support group called 'Work It Out' for LGBTQ+ people in paid employment to come together and support each other with these challenges.

How can the workplace be more supportive of LGBTQ+ employees?