Project: Local support for LGBT+ people and their families
Area 1. Human rights protection (including gender equality)
‘At “Culture of Equality”, we have been providing free psychological and legal support to non-heteronormative people and their relatives who come to us in crisis for many years, in cooperation with specialists. We know how important it is to reach out for professional support,’ write the people who created the Rainbow Side of Help website to make it easier for people from the LGBT+ community in Lower Silesia to access knowledgeable and friendly specialists, people who are competent in psychological, psychotherapeutic, sexological and psychiatric support.
Looking for / offering
The strength of the www.teczowastronapomocy.pl (Rainbow Side of Help) website, is the search engine. In the database of specialists, you can search for people working in a specific locality or online, you can find people who have a specific area of specialisation or those who work with children or adults. There is also a form that allows people who work or want to work with the LGBT+ community to be added to the database.
Declarations and verifications
By accessing the profile of each person in the database, it is possible to check their experience of working with LGBT+ people. Two simple pictograms help with this: one stands for declaration and the other for verification.
We are aware of the fact that not all professionals have access to appropriate training, that there are too few training opportunities, and that they are expensive, which is why the possibility to declare was added, Anna Smarzyński from the Foundation says. This way, those professionals who are open to working with non-heteronormative people, but do not have specialised training in this area can also be included in the database. Verification means that we know that these people are trained to work with LGBT people, have worked, collaborated or are working with organisations that also provide support, and the experience of these people is simply greater.
Rainbow Side of Help: www.teczowastronapomocy.pl
