True Colours is a program for queer and questioning youth in rural WA. OUTinPerth asked its co-ordinator Jaye Edwards to tell us more…
‘Our aim is to encourage safe and inclusive rural communities for young people with a diverse sexuality and gender.
‘We work directly with the young people through inclusive social support groups, which are currently operating in Bunbury and Albany on a fortnightly basis. By inclusive I mean you don’t have to be gay or lesbian or identify as DSG (diverse sexuality and gender) to come along. So, if someone is only out to straight friends, and they don’t want to walk into a group of people they don’t know for the first time on their own, then they can take their straight mates along. They don’t have to make any sort of statement about their sexuality to join the group. In a rural area, you need to get the numbers, and a little side benefit that we have found is that the straight young crew that comes along is more understanding of the stigmatization that their mates experience.
‘We work with young people directly, and we try to educate the broader community and families about sexuality and gender and some of the experiences that young people have. So, if they do make a disclosure, there’s a high level of understanding, and hopefully a more positive attitude to support them, which is going to reduce the risk of drug and alcohol abuse, family conflicts, homelessness, anxiety, depression and suicide.
‘We also offer professional development and training and capacity building opportunities for anyone who works with young people and their families. So, if those people do reach out, they can get good support. We don’t offer counseling; we are not an intensive support service. It’s more about community development in these places.
‘We have plenty of opportunities for volunteering, whether that’s administration support through to helping us with community development and education strategies to public speaking.’
Future Plans
‘We are heading over to ‘Helping Difference’, the biannual national gay and lesbian conference to present with Ben Hillier from La Trobe University and Sue Hackney from the Way Out Project. Then in July, there’s a Children and Young people’s conference here in Perth, and we are presenting at that. A lot of young people and their parents and grand parents will be coming to that to present.
‘We are also starting a newsletter. Something that came out from of our research was that young people wanted to know of other young people’s stories locally. We are going to produce a program newsletter and distribute regionally, month to month, especially across the region targeting Bunbury and Albany.’
The True Colours Bunbury group meets the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month, and the Albany group meet on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. Jaye Edwards and True Colours can be contacted on 9481 1077.
