Geelong Advertiser

Ease their pain

- Jason TRETHOWAN

IT was in regional Victoria last month where I saw first-hand why Australia’s vote to legalise marriage equality must happen.

On a visit to our newest headspace centre, I spent time with a woman who supports and works with young LGBTIQA+ people struggling with their mental health and wellbeing.

When I discuss marriage equality, I look to the statistics.

How — on average — one in five young people who come into a headspace centre identify as LGBTIQA+.

But for her, she sees the faces, she hears the stories and she experience­s the reality many LGBTIQA+ young people struggle with, and that the current environmen­t is making that struggle even harder.

The mere existence of her job is evidence of a problem that needs to be addressed, because the current inequality is affecting too many young people. The impact is wide, too, as family and friends seek informatio­n and services through headspace centres to work out strategies to support young LGBTIQA+ people for whom they are concerned.

As the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, headspace is 100 per cent supportive of the “yes” vote. We have a history of proof as to why such a vital social measure needs to be taken.

Over the past 11 years headspace has helped more than 355,000 young people of various ages, background­s, genders and sexual identities.

What we have seen, and what the research has shown, is that young LGBTIQA+ Australian­s have a higher risk of having, or developing, mental health issues including depression, anxiety and substance use.

This higher risk is related to homophobic abuse, difficulti­es associated with disclosure, community attitudes and discrimina­tion.

Young people already have enough to contend with when growing up. To pile on issues such as stigma around their identity, and inequality in the eyes of the law, these are challenges young people do not need to face.

We also see the flow-on impacts from young people dropping out of school, taking days out of work, breakdown in key family relationsh­ips, withdrawal and feeling a deep sense of loneliness and isolation.

Headspace centres, other healthcare settings and community organisati­ons are then in response and crisis mode to help young people and families manage their levels of distress. There is not only a personal cost but a social and economic impact for the country.

Headspace clinicians who work at our online and over-the-phone counsellin­g service, eheadspace, tell me of the worrying trends that LGBTIQA+ young people are reporting.

They feel that other people are deciding if they deserve to have their relationsh­ips recognised. They report feeling like a “freak” and that others see them as worthless, and without the right for recognitio­n. Some have even said they feel hated by fellow Australian­s and that they feel some people would rather LGBTIQA+ young people were not here. These fears should not exist. Earlier this year, young people at headspace introduced a peer-led initiative created from a recognised need in communitie­s across Australia.

Qheadspace is on online anonymous support group chat, led by trained “queer peers”, to support young LGBTIQA+ people going through a tough time.

In the latest chat many sought advice and support around the marriage equality debate and what it meant for them, their friends and families.

The demand for Qheadspace has been so high that we have had to increase the number of group chats from monthly to fortnightl­y.

For young people, families and friends directly affected by the current confrontin­g and confusing public debate, the outcome of the postal vote will be a life-changing moment. A “yes” vote, which then hopefully translates later in the year to a change in the law, will be a fresh start. It is not just now, but also for future generation­s of young Australian­s, so they will not experience the same health impacts.

Perhaps once and for all this human rights and equality issue for so many Australian­s can be dealt with. Just like our friends in Ireland found two years after they legalised same sex marriage — “what happens? Two people get married and the world continues”. Jason Trethowan is chief executive of headspace, a national mental health foundation for Australian youth.

 ??  ?? STRESSFUL: The marriage equality debate is adding to the mental health struggles of some young Australian­s.
STRESSFUL: The marriage equality debate is adding to the mental health struggles of some young Australian­s.
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