Emotion
LGBTQ+ young people’s emotions are often dismissed as irrational or attention-seeking. At the same time, they may feel pressure to be ‘happy’ and successful. Support should validate and take seriously young people’s feelings as understandable human responses to events in their lives. Communication about feelings should be a priority and the emotions involved in seeking support acknowledged e.g. feeling scared.
What’s the problem?
Maria* (staff member) said “we’re conscious that young people often have a lot of diagnoses. For some that will have been a relief to have a diagnosis. And for some it is not something they feel happy about and it feels that it was imposed on them. So diagnosis is important but more in terms of how that person views their own life choices.”
