New resources explore mental health stigma for LGBT young people

Three new videos are now available to showcase the impact of mental health stigma for LGBT young people. 

The short films, created by LGBT Youth Scotland with support from See Me’s staff, youth consultants and our young volunteers, feature people’s real experiences of the stigma they’ve faced when trying to open up about their mental health. 

LGBT Youth Scotland’s “Life in Scotland for LGBT Young People 2022” report highlights that many young people experience mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and eating disorders amongst others. LGBT young people are also more likely to face dual or multiple stigmas in the form of homophobia and transphobia. 

Team work

The videos were created by a group of LGBT Youth Scotland young people, with support from LGBT Youth Scotland, See Me volunteers and youth consultants and Queer Film Night. The group worked together through six virtual sessions via the LGBT Youth Scotland Pride and Pixels Discord channel to identify reactions they’ve had when they’ve tried to speak about their mental health, and how that made them feel, before working on scripts and deciding how best to present the information. 

With the support and training from Edinburgh-based Queer Film Night, volunteers Pea and Skye filmed and edited the final videos. 

The short videos are designed for use in education settings, with youth groups, to spark conversations among family and friends and to help other young people in similar situations to feel less alone. 

LGBT Youth Scotland young person Skye said: “The videos are going to be such an important stepping stone in breaking down the stigma with young people, especially in the young queer community. There is so much stigma going around and I hope that queer young people look at the videos and see themselves in it because they were made with their views in mind.” 

Have your voice heard

Fellow LGBT Youth Scotland volunteer Pea added: “These videos are extremely important to me, not just as a young queer woman but also as an individual with a disability. It’s very difficult to have your voice heard, never mind considered, but on this occasion working alongside See Me and LGBT Youth Scotland, I was given that opportunity to not only have my voice heard but projected with the most important part being that there is now materials out there to help others that may feel a similar way.  

“The only way we can break stigma is by understanding and uniting together. We already experience heightened discrimination due to our age and the fact we are LGBT. Our voice is just as important as anyone else’s.” 

You can access the videos and find out more about the Breaking the Stigma project on the LGBT Youth Scotland website.