Youth Project opens Sydney office to support LGBTQ youth
The Cape Breton headquarters of the Youth Project were officially opened on Friday and Russell MacKinnon couldn’t be happier.
“It gives youth a safe place to be and it offers a lot of resources for those who need it,” MacKinnon said.
And he would know. For the past four years, he has been transitioning into his present life as a male and he says it hasn’t been an easy journey.
“I’ve been called everything from a cross-dressing fag to not really being a boy,” says the 19-year-old peer support volunteer who says he wants to helps others cope with the difficult times. “This is a place to be you without the pressures of the outside world.”
It’s that world that Cape Breton co-ordinator Madonna Doucette hopes to bring to youth members of this area’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. As the main face of the Sydney office, she hopes the new office at 440 George St. will help those who want support, programs or who simply want to connect.
“Today, we celebrate a more rainbow world,” she says.
The Youth Project has been offering support, education, resource expansion and programs to the Halifax area since 1993 and in its 25th year, it hopes in the Cape Breton satellite office to support youth around issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
“The services we were able to offer before in Cape Breton were not at the level needed,” said Kate Shewan, executive director of the Youth Project, who spoke at Friday’s opening.
Shewan says they’ll now be able to offer more programs and services in this area and help more people.
“This is important to us and we’re really excited to be here,” she said.
Most of the programs offered in Halifax will also be offered in Cape Breton including Transformers, a support and discussion group for transgender and gender queer youth up to the age of 25, a drop in night for anyone to stop in and discuss issues or just to meet with friends and a parents night for those who want to discuss the challenges and triumphs of having LGBTQ children.
To learn more about the programs and when they’re held, Doucette can be contacted at madonna@youthproject.ns.ca.
“This will change a lot of lives in Cape Breton,” said Doucette.