People
Do not assume that young people trust adults. Trusting relationships can be difficult due to experiences of discrimination such as LGBTQ+ phobia, racism, or ableism, or fears of such discrimination. Instead, trust needs to be actively cultivated in relationships with adults. Young people should be supported to navigate relationships with important people in their lives, whoever these people are such as support staff, peers, LGBTQ+ adults, family, and school.
What’s the problem?
Billie* (staff member) said “we’re a mental health service, so we sometimes suffer from that lack of trust that young people might have in professionals, if they’ve been burnt before where someone has handled something in the wrong way, someone’s betrayed their trust, that’s quite a common problem.”