Looking after LGBT+ young people’s mental health

Hannah Murden is Brook’s Service Development Administrator. For Mental Health Awareness Week, she explains why LGBT+ young people are more likely to struggle with their mental health and gives some tips on how to better support them.

Although 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem in their lifetime, it is important to remember that some people are more likely to suffer from poor mental health. In this blog I’ll be focusing on young people in the LGBT+ community, the reasons why they may be more likely to face issues surrounding mental health, and what can be done to support them.

First things first, being LGBT+ doesn’t cause poor mental health.

However, people who identify under the LGBT+ umbrella are 1.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety and depression, with rates of depression and suicidal thoughts/ attempts being particularly high for trans people and gay or bisexual men. There are a multitude of reasons as to why these increased levels of poor mental health disproportionately affect the LGBT+ community;

• Hate crimes and abuse and violence: LGBT+ people are nearly four times more likely than non-LGBT+ people to be victims of violent crime. In the past year, hate crimes against trans people in the UK have gone up by 11% and by 186% in the last five years.
• Bullying and cyberbullying: a report from 2021 found that “LGBT+ school pupils are twice as likely to have been bullied and 91% have heard negative language about being LGBT+ in the past year”
• Discrimination; More than half of younger LGBT+ people experience homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic bullying in Britain’s schools.
• Challenges around coming out: It is important to consider that if someone has had a bad experience around sharing their sexuality with friends, family, or colleagues, having to come out over and over again may be very difficult, they may even choose to hide their sexuality, which can cause feelings of isolation and affect mental wellbeing and stress levels.
• Rejection or being excluded: As mentioned above, LGBT+ people can feel rejected and excluded in many situations – maybe their family doesn’t accept them, maybe they don’t feel comfortable openly sharing their sexuality within their faith community, and maybe they even sometimes feel rejected by their own LGBT+ peers. All of these elements can push LGBT+ people further into feelings of isolation and situations where their mental health is negatively impacted.

These challenges can have a huge impact on mental health and wellbeing. On top of that, some LGBT+ people will experience additional challenges based on certain characteristics including age, religion, ethnicity, and gender.

So, what can you do to support the mental health of a young LGBT+ person?

1. Be a good listener – ask questions and give them space to talk about their experience. It’s important to remember when listening to someone that you aren’t trying to solve their problems but understand actively listening to what they are telling you.
2. Educate yourself – learn about LGBT+ issues and understand the challenges they may face and if you don’t understand something, gently ask for clarity – it’s better to ask questions to deepen your understanding than to remain ignorant.
3. Validate their feelings – let them know that the emotions they’re feeling are valid.  If they choose to come out to you, let them know that you’re glad they felt comfortable to tell you. If someone is struggling with their gender or sexuality, reassure them that they don’t have to have an answer right now and that you’re there to listen to them while they work it out.
4. Support them – Small things like going to an LGBT+ event with them or helping them make friends can make a huge difference. Support them to find an LGBT+ community – It can feel lonely to be LGBT+, particularly if you haven’t come out to anyone or if you don’t have friends who are also LGBT+, so finding friends from the same community can be helpful.
5. Check-in with them – If you see something on the news that might have an impact on their mental health, ask them how they’re doing or let them know that you’re thinking about them. Support them to manage their social media and news intake so it’s not overwhelming and to also seek out positive LGBT+ content.

It can help to remember that you don’t need to have all the answers!

Asking someone what they think would help them when they are struggling with their mental health is always going to yield better results than telling them what you think they should do to fix it all.
There may be occasions where you can see that a young person is struggling with their mental health or is going through a hard time in their life but maybe they aren’t ready to talk about it. This could be for several reasons; they might just need some time to understand how they are feeling or maybe they haven’t found the right way to begin talking about what is on their mind. Reassure them that you are always there to listen and support them, whenever they are ready or want to talk. If they don’t want to talk to you, try not to get frustrated or upset with them but instead keep checking in if there are any ways you can be useful – sometimes supporting someone can be as simple as spending the day together to take their mind off of what is bothering them, it doesn’t always have to be a big conversation.
And finally, make sure they know where they can get support. We have a helpful list of LGBT+ support organizations around the country.
There are also some helpful resources for parents and carers of LGBT+ youth on FFLAG’s website, including information about in-person and online support groups and a wide range of information booklets on a variety of LGBT+ topics.