LGB Alliance starts Helpline for teens and young adults

[IwantToRetire]

This isn't a specifically for women, lesbians but aimed at young people who are feeling confused or bullied whilst trying to work out who they are. Thought some on FWR might have siblings, children, who might find this useful.

Q: Why did you select the age range 13 – 24?

Adolescence is often a time of turmoil and change and teenagers can struggle as they begin to think about who they are.

Whilst acting on any sense of same-sex attraction may be years away, the worries and fears associated with the idea that you are ‘different’ often start early.

Young adults, on the other hand, may be more settled in their sexual orientation but struggling with a new world of relationships.

Whilst the support would be framed differently and always in an age appropriate manner, the underlying message from our volunteers will be meaningful to all teens and young adults – it’s always fine to be you.

Q: How is it different to any other service?

Like other helplines, we’ll be there to support teens and young adults facing a whole host of issues – ranging from coming out and bullying to break-ups and family alienation.

What makes us unique is that the service won’t suggest to a teenage girl who feels different, because she prefers short hair and playing sport, that she might really be a boy. And it won’t tell a teenage boy who is being bullied for being effeminate that maybe he’s really a girl.

Many young adults report being shamed for their lesbian, gay or bisexual relationships by those who would say that same-sex attraction is in some way bigoted. We start from the premise that homosexuality is perfectly natural.

There is much more info about safeguarding and how volunteers were recruited on this web page https://lgballiance.org.uk/our-helpline-is-open/

Perhaps posters could give their opinions when they've even bothered to read and realise it's not a bloody phone line. Why does everyone keep saying calls? It's not calls where you could at least hopefully tell if you are speaking to a young child even if they said they were 23. It's an online chat without even a prescreening question to filter by age. I don't know why people are so confused that people in schools under 18 are subject to under 18 safeguarding policies and adults are subject to adult safeguarding either, it's not that complicated.

It's been mentioned upthread. Separate teams, all separately trained, all kept separate. As previous posters have said, teachers are expected to deal with all kinds of personal, emotional and learning issues across a large age-range. Why would this be different?

By which poster? I haven't seen anyone suggest that unless I missed it. I said I was happy for there to be the same staff but either manning the child or adult service at any particular shift as each service would (and should) have separate policies and procedures to follow.

Please spell it out for me because I’m obviously missing the point. The issue over adult safeguarding vs child safeguarding and the desire to have a separate number/site for children aged 13-15. What are you proposing that will actually be done differently for the 13-15 year old via their dedicated child friendly access and why can’t that be done for every person that contacts them?

I'm sorry that you can't grasp the idea the same information disclosed by a child could trigger a safeguarding concern but not when mentioned by an adult.

Why have you picked 15 as a cut off?

Under 18s are children, not under 16s.

ETA: obviously under 16s are also all children, but the category of child ends at 18.

Still unclear. Users give their age. The trained volunteer receives information from a child that then triggers a safeguarding concern. Why are they only able to act on this if the child has clicked on a chat for under 18s? They just need separate processes for over and under 18s.

Presumably because PPs have raised the age of consent. It's why I wondered why there wasn't a push for 3 'helplines'. !6 year olds can be having sex legally, 15 year olds can't

At this point because you just sound way too comfortable with mixing children's and adults, do you always feel that way? You're acting as though posters are making up the already very real safeguarding policies for over and under 18s. They exist for a reason. If I was a volunteer at this service I would want it to be clear that these are the guidelines of what I can say and talk about when manning the child service and these are the guidelines when I'm manning the adult service. For an online chat where you have literally no idea who you're talking to it protects the volunteer because they are following the guidelines for the service they're on, whether or not someone decides to falsely click on the adult service. I tried accessing the chat yesterday to see if it prescreened for ages first thing and it doesn't.

Yes, I agree that different literature and a dedicated number for under 18s would be a better option. I just can’t get on board with the suggestion that LGB children do not exist or that it is inherently dangerous to provide space for children to discuss their worries regarding developing sexuality.

Right, so is the helpline not going to ask the age of the person contacting them? I would have thought they would given that it is an age targeted service. As they would have to signpost to other services for anyone under 13 and over 24. If they aren’t, then that’s the obvious solution isn’t it? And then the call handler follows the procedure for the self declared age of the “caller”.

i picked 16 as the cut off because AlisonDonut was discussing age of consent and sex. I thought that was the issue, not the legal definition of a child.

Anyway my issue isn't around the helpline itself, it's about promoting the idea that 13-17 year olds are 'young people' alongside 17-24 year olds. It's a subtle thing, but it is a blurring of boundaries.

A long time ago I attended a course for parents of disabled children. All our kids were 6-8 years old. Throughout, one of the course leaders referred to our children as 'your young person/s' never ever saying 'your child/ren'. Like other euphemisms - describing disabled children as having additional or special needs for example - it results in a perception shift. Children - and disabled people - have specific protections and rights for good reasons, and when we mess about with the language it's easier to forget about those rights and protections.

I'm not sure what you're trying to imply, but children & adults aren't mixing - except insofar as children will be talking to adult volunteers. The LGBA make it clear that when people use the chat they will be asked their age. If all volunteers are trained to work with both over and under 18s then they will know what they can and can't say, depending on the age. Which protocol is suitable. Which guidelines to use. Again the LGBA make this very clear, information and any advice will be age appropriate. Each volunteer is also supervised as an extra level of oversight.

It's not my chat line FYI.

But that surely is the point. Legally things change at different ages so having age appropriate separation will help protect LGBA as much as anyone contacting them.

From the LGBA website

All contacts will be asked how old they are so that the volunteer can respond to them in an age-appropriate and responsible manner. It will also ensure that they can advise children against risky or illegal contact with others.

This is the overall issue. It might seem subtle but it's more and more common and sends a terrible message to children especially. We shouldn't be normalising any sort of equivalence between a child of 13 and a young adult.

thank you, that answers my question and that sounds eminently sensible.

If the LGB Alliance were ever under any misapprehension that the prejudice would start and end with transphobia and never migrate to homophobia they will quickly be disabused of that now 😂

That should be "18-24 year olds" in the first sentence.

Well it didn't when I went on the website yesterday I'm afraid. With no prescreening it immediately connected to a handler who didn't introduced themselves, didn't ask my age and said they were there to talk about whatever I wanted. I explained that I was only accessing the chat to see if it prescreened for age of users and the handler seemed confused at why I was asking. I explained I was checking if they are screening between adult and children they and said I could email in with any queries. I've emailed them a screenshot of the chat and asked them to send me copies of their safeguarding policies so we'll see what they are but I was not impressed.
Services and it's volunteers don't always operate perfectly hence the importance of separate services for children and adults. I think posters are being very unrealistic thinking volunteers in their own time are triaging on the fly perfectly.

I've read every single post on this thread, yours included. None of them answer the questions I've asked you. Why bother responding to my comments if you're not going to answer the questions I've asked?

What, precisely, do I not understand? I've asked questions and you haven't answered them. That is definitely your fault.

'All contacts will be asked how old they are so that the volunteer can respond to them in an age-appropriate and responsible manner. It will also ensure that they can advise children against risky or illegal contact with others.'

This is very concerning and a serious breach of safeguarding!

I'm sorry but everytime someone reposts this it's giving "she said she was older" vibes. It's just beyond careless on an online chat. Why have users self report their age when you could very cheaply create a dedicated split between the chat for adults and the chat for children and the advice for each chat is already guidelined.

It is but I know it was their first day open and obviously someone's first shift so it was never going to be perfect but still. That's why separate services protect users and volunteers. I'll report back when I get a response.