The University of Brighton worked in close collaboration with community partners to research the needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Unsure (LGBTU) young people living in rural areas of Sussex. The project highlighted gaps in service provision leading to the production of training materials and programmes in response to this.

Project Outline

Local practitioners have for some time been aware that there is inadequate service provision for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Trans, and Unsure (LGBTU) young people residing in rural areas of Sussex, as well as a lack of appropriate training for service providers. The Sussex LGBTU Training and Development Research Partnership will provide the first attempt to explore the training needs of practitioners/professionals working with young people across Sussex.

Despite the established negative impacts on health and emotional well-being, there are few LGBTU services for young people across Sussex, and where they do exist, they tend to be located in urban areas such as Brighton and Eastbourne.

The Sussex LGBTU Training and Development Research Partnership was established by collaborating with local community organisations to establish a long-term working partnership that researched, developed, piloted, and produced an LGBTU training pack /manual for trainers (course facilitators). This work was completed in two phases; in Phase One the IHDRC at the University of Brighton worked in close collaboration with its community partners to conduct a training needs analysis with practitioners themselves and LGBTU young people from across Sussex who are living mainly in rural areas. In Phase Two the findings of the work were made available to the lead community partner (TSA - who are highly experienced in developing accredited training courses and producing training materials). TSA then piloted and produced the training packs and delivered two associated ‘Training The Trainers (TTT) courses to prepare 24 Sussex based facilitators to use the material.

Project Partners

Trust for Study of Adolescence (TSA Ltd) New Road, Brighton, BN1 1WZ

Terrence Higgins Trust 61 Ship Street Brighton

Allsorts Youth Project 69 Ship St Brighton

Dormans Youth Arts Centre (DYAC) Dormans, Crawley West Sussex

International Health Development Research Centre (IHDRC) Faculty of Health and Social Science University of Brighton

Project Outcomes

LGBTU Training and Development Research Partnership - Final Report

An article based on the projects outcomes which might be useful to refer to:

Sherriff, N.S. Hamilton, W., Wigmore, S., and Giambrone, B. (2011). ‘What do you say to them?’ Investigating and Supporting the Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Young People. Journal of Community Psychology, 39(8), 939-955.