16:00, 16 November 2020
Words by Smiley Team, Staff Writer, London
In the UK, 24% of homeless young people identify as LGBTQ+, with coming out and being outed as LGBTQ+ often resulting in young people bing made homeless.
Once homeless, LGBTQ+ young people are more likely to face violence and discrimination than young people who aren’t LGBTQ+. In addition, young LGBTQ+ people are also more likely to develop substance misuse issues and experience sexual exploitation, taking a huge toll on someone’s physical and mental health.
Thankfully, charities like akt exist to enable young LGBTQ+ people to thrive by providing tailored support. Working with young LGBTQ+ people aged 16-25, the charity offers can be wide ranging - from finding emergency accomodation to helping secure a job interview, akt is there to support vulnerable LGBTQ+ young people when they need it mst.
Through providing support tailored to each individual, akt are able to not only help young LGBTQ+ people survive, but thrive.
"We like to look at each young person as just that a young person, and each young person is different." says Donor Engagement Manager Claire Linacre.
"Each young person has different needs, different experiences and different support networks. So we will really work with each young person person and try to offer as holistic and as bespoke support as possible."
From advice from a housing specialist all the way to providing a place to stay in their Purple Door accomodation service or via one of their community partners, the support makes a huge difference in the lives of the young people they help.
"Fundamental things are making sure that they are safe - where that is being safe where they sleep or having enough access to food. A lot of our young people have needed to self isolate and it's incredibly difficult to self isolate safely if you are not pretty financially independent" says Claire.
akt saw a 107% increase in demand for their services in London and a 44% increase nationally during the UK's first lockdown, with coronavirus guidelines meaning young people staying with friends or sofa-surfing were no longer able to do so.
"We can also work with them on to help them acheive their goals by supporting them to get a job or develop new skills or access advice or mentoring."
"We like to make sure that we are giving that young person as much support as possible that they need to become independent and thrive and move away from the severe, difficult situation they've been in and a new exciting chapter."
If you or someone you know need akt's support, you can head to their website and find information about their services. The charity also offer an online hub filled with resources which people can access - there is also an exit page button in case you are worried about anyone seeing what you are viewing.
To support akt and their work, you can donate, fundraise and also support their online art & gift shop.
If you are an organisation able to support akt, get in touch at [email protected]
Claire from akt will be joining us for our panel Beyond Pride on 17th November 1pm. Make sure to head to our Smiley Talks page to find out more and to sign up!
