A worker with LGBT Youth writes ...

We work nationally with LGBT young people between the ages of 13 and 26, we can offer support to younger LGBT or questioning young people and welcome enquiries from schools and other statutory or voluntary sector workers.

As Advice, support and housing worker I seek to empower and enable young people to make positive and relevant choices in their lives in a way that is person centred and appropriate to the individual.

Work with young people can also cover 'coming out', sexual health, mental health issues, homophobia and harassment, transgender issues and much more.

We work closely with relevant agencies to create pathways for young people requiring support and housing, this enable us as an organisation to ensure that young people are  housed appropriately and that they have support within their tenancies.

Referrals can be arranged by several options; self referral, referral by other agency and through general practioners and other health care workers. Referrals can be taken by phone, by email or by fax.

We can also offer support to families of LGBT young people. It is helpful to have relevant information on clients who are in the process of referral, information on a need to know basis i.e. any 'alerts' that we should know about, also direct contact details for the young person, date of birth etc. Permission should be given by each young person with regard to the passing on of any information.

We adhere to a strict confidentiality policy, we are committed to adopting practices and procedures which ensures confidentiality in respect of information relating to clients of the organisation. Internally information may be shared with members of the team if regarded as being beneficial to the client and that the client will always be made aware of that possibility. Information to third parties will be given only with the express permission of the young person.

LGBT Youth has clear guidelines regarding the retaining of records and a monitoring service is in place to ensure that records and information remain confidential.

More information is available on the relevant pages of our website. Or you can telephone 0131 622 2266.