David Richards is offering a workshop on working with older LGBT clients.  David has considerable experience in this area and we are delighted to be addressing some of the specific issues faced by this often disenfranchised and discriminated group.
For more information click here.

 

 

URGENT CALL FOR TRANS PARTICIPANTS: For Focus Groups in Manchester, London, Leeds, Nottingham and Bristol, June and July 2008

Are you now or have you recently been a trans-identified patient receiving related assessments or treatments within the National Health Service?  Would you like to discuss your experiences with accessing trans-related healthcare services?  I am looking for both female-to-male (FTM) and male-to-female (MTF) trans people to participate in a discussion about your healthcare experiences.

These focus groups are part of an ongoing PhD research project into trans healthcare in the NHS. As part of this project, I'd like to know your opinions about what works well in the NHS and what improvements can be made.

Small focus group discussions (between 7-10 people) will take place in the following cities: Manchester, London, Nottingham, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow in June and July of 2008.  Your personal stories and views are important and will make a valuable contribution towards policy discussions regarding trans healthcare. 

If you would like to help, please respond by email to find out more.
Ryan Combs, University of Manchester, PhD Student
Email: transfocusgroup@gmail.com

Confidentiality and privacy will be respected at all times and all identifiable information will be removed from the report to ensure that participants will remain anonymous in the research.

Damning inequalities revealed in first major lesbian health study
Significantly more self-harm and suicide than in wider female population
Higher levels of drug use and heavy drinking.

Half Britain's 1.8m lesbians still report a recent negative NHS experience
The first major survey ever conducted into lesbian and bisexual women's health in Britain reveals deeply disturbing levels of self-harm, substance abuse and exclusion from routine testing for cervical cancer. Prescription for Change, a survey of 6,000 lesbian and bisexual respondents, suggests that health services are failing to identify specific healthcare needs among Britain's 1.8 million lesbian population. They are also failing to address specific mental health needs that many women still experience as a result of discrimination.

The survey, conducted by Stonewall is the biggest of its kind ever conducted outside America, provides unique new statistics on the mental health, drinking and drug use of lesbian and bisexual women in Britain in 2008:
 
One in five lesbian and bisexual women have deliberately harmed themselves in the last year, compared to 0.4 per cent of the general population. Young lesbian and bisexual women are ten times more likely to have self-harmed compared to others - half of women under 20 have self-harmed compared to one in fifteen of teenagers generally.
Lesbian and bisexual women under 20 are eight times more likely to have attempted to take their life than teenagers generally.
Lesbian and bisexual women are five times more likely to have taken drugs than women generally. Forty per cent drink three times a week compared to a quarter of women in general.

The report includes ten key recommendations for the NHS to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery for lesbian and bisexual patients. 'We trust that ministers will take this report seriously and start pushing service providers across the NHS to address some of the very stark evidence of differential service delivery revealed by this research,' said Ben Summerskill.

The full report can be found here

A Therapy group for Lesbians will be starting on September 25th and running on alternate Thursday evenings at a venue in central London. The group will be facilitated by Pink Therapy Clinical Associate - Cloud Taylor.

Cost £130 for 8 sessions (Early bird rate of £104 if booked before July 25th)

Anyone interested should email Cloud in the first instance at cloud.taylor@pinktherapy.com

New Part-time Postgraduate Diploma & MSc in Sexual & Relationship Therapy Within Department of Psychology at South Bank University.

For further information & an application form visit
www.lsbu.ac.uk/psycho/courses/sexual.shtml
or contact Paula Reavey on reaveyp@lsbu.ac.uk

PACE is London's leading mental health and well - being provider for the lesbian, gay and bisexual community. For nearly 20 years they have been providing a range of excellent and respected services.
These incorporate counselling, children & family support, advocacy, groupwork, employment and youthwork. They also provide training to other organisations.

PACE are currently recruiting to the following posts:

Under 16's Bullying & Exploitation Worker
Sessional Under 16's Youth Worker
Children and Family Support Liaison Worker

If you have any queries regarding any of the jobs listed please contact myself (Deryn Howard) or my manager Catriona Cormack on 020 7700 1323 or
visit our website to download the application form

If you are a member of the Directory of Pink Therapists it is likely you will need to renew your membership which is annually renewable every July.  Please don't delay in returning your form.  
We welcome new applicants to the Directory - especially people practising outside of London as most parts of the country are undersubscribed.

 

Dominic Davies
Pink Therapy