I am CEO of BeLonG To Youth Services, Ireland’s national organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and non-binary young people aged 14 to 23. I am joined this by my colleague, Ms Sinead Keane, who is our communications and advocacy manager.
BeLonG To has been supporting young people since we opened our doors in Dublin in 2003. Today, we provide specialist youth services in Dublin, including peer support groups, one-to-one support, and in-house counselling with our partners in Pieta House. All of this has gone online since March 2020. We also support a national network of approximately 50 LGBTI+ youth groups throughout Ireland. Our work supports LGBT young people around Ireland with where they are at right now. Many of them are in crisis or are experiencing mental health challenges. We also work to improve systems, structures and spaces in Ireland to make them safe, supportive and welcoming, so that we, as a society, can reduce the harm done to our young people in our schools, in our communities and even, unfortunately, in our homes. I have included examples of our advocacy work in the document that has been forwarded to the sub-committee, some of our campaigns, awareness raising, and our education and training work. We can talk about that later.
Last year, BeLonG To asked young LGBT people how they were getting on during lockdown. We published the results of the survey in a short report called Life in Lockdown. The findings were stark. Some 93% of LGBT young people said that they were struggling with anxiety, stress or depression during Covid-19. This was in comparison to 53% of the general youth population named in the Young Social Innovators’ Covid-19 Youth Check In survey, earlier in 2020. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, research such as the 2016 LGBTIreland report, highlighted the mental health struggles experienced by LGBTI+ young people in Ireland, with the group being twice more likely to self-harm, three times more like to experience suicide ideation and four times more likely to experience anxiety and depression, compared with their non-LGBT friends. Despite the great strides that we have made as a country in terms of LGBT inclusion over the past decade, this reality has been compounded since the Covid-19 pandemic began. LGBT young people are experiencing a loss of access to the spaces and supports they relied on for their well-being. Key findings in our Life in Lockdown survey carried out in May 2020 revealed that 55% of LGBT young people are struggling with suicide ideation; 45% of them are struggling with self-harm; and 60% of them are experiencing loneliness. Some 42% of respondents said they were not fully accepted in their home environments due to their sexual orientation or their gender identity and 53% of LGBT young people surveyed indicated that their home environment is not a good place to be during Covid-19 restrictions. I have listed in my document some anonymous responses to the survey. I will read one now but I can read more later. One respondent said, “Sometimes I think being dead is better than having to deal with online school, criticism from the person I live with, and the fear of the virus."
At BeLonG To, we are fearful that the devastating mental health impact of Covid-19 on the lives of LGBT young people will live long beyond the virus. Many LGBT young people experience ongoing mental health challenges. The results of our survey show that these have been exacerbated by Covid-19. LGBT young people do not stop experiencing crises during pandemics. Many feel isolated from their support networks who love and accept them for who they are. Some are experiencing emotional and physical abuse. They are alone, scared and anxious.
Now, more than ever, LGBT young people need access to a wide range of support and life-saving resources. At BeLonG To, we have rapidly responded to meet the needs of LGBT young people during Covid-19 through the provision of digital youth work, online youth groups and online training for the youth work and education sector. Through this work, we are letting LGBT young people across the country know that there is a safe space for them to come together, to be who they are, and to receive the support they need. However, we cannot do this alone. We need continued funding and support for the LGBT youth sector to combat these serious mental health challenges. In addition to Covid-19, over the past 18 months, we have seen the devastating impact of external challenges on the LGBT youth population of Ireland. There was a notable rise in transphobia and far right narratives that attempted to undermine the rights and even the existence of trans people. Incidences of hate speech targeting the LGBT community are growing, particularly across social media platforms, as we witness the rise of the far right both online and offline across Ireland.
In the first three months of this year, demand for our support services has continued to grow among young people, parents, teachers and others working with young people. As was the case last year, some young people, for a variety of reasons, including lack of privacy, not being “out” at home, or Zoom fatigue prefer one-to-one support, instead of joining one of the digital peer support youth groups.
The most common presenting issues for young people were mental health issues, followed by education and school issues, and then coming out. To date, there have been 1,290 individualised one-to-one interventions with young people this year. This is an increase of 64% compared with the same period last year, just before the first wave of Covid-19 hit. We are currently collating and analysing the data from our second iteration of the BeLonG To Youth Services Life in Lockdown survey. This survey was conducted online from 29 April 2021 to 10 May 2021, to assess the impact of the Covid-19 restrictions on LGBT young people in the Ireland. We will share this data with committee members as soon as it is ready to be published.
I have listed what needs to be done and some of the great work that has been going on. They can be broadly listed together under access to appropriate mental health services and safe spaces for LGBT young people. I am happy to go through those in more detail with members. Some of them are ongoing. There has been great flexibility and generosity across the public and private sectors, which have been funding some of these great initiatives.