As part of our drive to support local charities, this week we are highlighting the important support provided by Norfolk LGBT+ Project.

About the charity

Established in 2007, Norfolk LGBT+ Project is the county’s only dedicated LGBT+ health and wellbeing service provider, providing early intervention and prevention support, services, and information to all age groups so we can help empower individuals to improve their mental and emotional wellbeing and to reduce social isolation of LGBT+ individuals living in Norfolk and Waveney.

Our services are for the community, by the community, and we champion the importance of local service provision that is informed, effective and compassionate. We hope together we can make a difference, working towards an inclusive society for all those we support and represent. We support our community by offering:

• One to one support.

• LGBTQ+ drop-in groups.

• Parent/carer support.

• Low-cost counselling.

• Educating with Pride Award.

• LGBT+ Awareness training.

• In house produced resources.

“Last year was another busy year for us, we provided support to 1,029 individuals and this was through our one to one support, those accessing our LGBTQ+ drop in groups and our low cost counselling service, our low-cost counselling service is currently funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and within the first 6 months of opening up the service, all 40 places were snapped up, it has been well received and in such demand. Being able to offer counselling at low cost has been welcomed by all our clients” – Fi Liew-Bedford, CEO of Norfolk LGBT+ Project

Although the main services we provide is support, we have expanded to be more than a support provider, in order to widen our audience and contribute to educating others, our LGBT+ Awareness Training and Educating with Pride school service has benefited both professionals and helping us to be sustainable long term. Our LGBT+ Trainer and Educating with Pride Coordinator were both busy, training 498 individuals from 26 different organisations ranging from healthcare, businesses the third sector and 913 school staff.

Impact of Covid-19

2020 was a year of challenges and changes for Norfolk LGBT+ Project as it has been for so many charities throughout the UK, COVID19 had a huge impact on how we all continued to provide our support services. Overnight we had to rethink how we delivered our services and through the commitment and hard work of the incredible staff and volunteers that make up the team behind Norfolk LGBT+ Project we did just that, and we continue to learn so we can adapt and develop new services to ensure that LGBT+ individuals living in Norfolk and Waveney feel confident that our services are right for them. COVID-19 completely altered how we supported LGBT+ individuals and how we delivered our services. Following government guidance, we provisionally suspended all our LGBT+ drop-in groups and moved all these services online. Aware of the increased need for emotional support, advice, and information we expanded our support via online platforms such as Zoom and a WhatsApp message service, whilst still offering support via email, phone, text and social media and when some restrictions were lifted, we were able to provide some face-to-face appointments. We used “Check in” mental health posts to reach out to followers and clients.

Upcoming Pride events

We are excited that all the Pride events in the county are going ahead, we will be at Norwich Pride, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Pride and Great Yarmouth and Waveney Pride over the next three months, so please come along and say hello, we will be giving out our free LGBT+ Guide booklet which outlines all our services plus we will be selling LGBT+ related merchandise which is part of our fundraising to help contribute to all our services.

For more information about accessing support or our LGBT+ Awareness training/Educating with Pride please email info@norfolklgbtproject.org.uk or visit our website www.norfolklgbtproject.org.uk