PFLAG South, Dunedin, New Zealand: Stories: Erin

• Do you work with young people?
• Have you considered that some of them will be Queer*?
• Queer youth come in all shapes and sizes, from all variety of backgrounds and are an important sector of our community. Recent studies have shown that almost all same/both-sex-attracted students report positive and caring relationships with their parents, and that they were happy or satisfied with life. **
• However, Same/both-sex-attracted young people have, on average, higher rates of alcohol and drug use, sexually transmitted infections and mental ill-health. The report also found that approximately half same/both-sex-attracted students had deliberately self-harmed and more than a than a third had seriously thought about attempting suicide; and that of the students who had been bullied, a third had been bullied because they were gay or people thought they were gay.**
• An in-depth study of Otago secondary school students reccommends that "Otago high schools make the development of safe and queer inclusive educational environments a priority in the coming years, not only for the sake of queer students, but for all students."***

Working Together With Queer Youth

We would like to invite you to work together to develop ways to support queer youth and make your workplace a safer environment. This is a workshop to be held on Friday July 23rd from 12.30 – 4.30 pm. It is aimed at bringing together those with expertise and experience in supporting queer youth, as well as those who come with questions, as to how best help students who identify as queer or may be questioning their sexuality or gender identity.

Telling and listening to stories will be an important part of the afternoon’s activities as we identify the issues that face Generation Y queer youth. Together we will seek ways of addressing these issues and working together as a community to support positive environments that affirm diversity.

If there is sufficient interest from those unable to attend on the Friday, the workshop may be repeated the following day, Saturday 24th July from 9.00 – 1.00

If you would like to attend please fill in the registration form and return in the envelope provided.

Please share this information with your colleagues. For further information email us via the contacts page

* What we mean when we say Queer A reclaimed word that represents sexuality and gender diversity. We use it to encompass lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, fa'afafine, and takataapui identities, as well as everyone in between and not sure. This word is used by many people, but it is also appreciated that it is not the preferred term for everybody.

** The Youth ‘07 ‘Health and Wellbeing of Secondary Schools Students in Aotearoa’ Report

*** How Safe and Inclusive are Otago Secondary Schools?: A report on the implementation of recommendations from the "Safety In Our Schools - Ko te haumaru I o tatou kura" Action Kit .