LGBTQ+ helpline funding would save lives, says Swansea centre

Lives will be lost unless funding is secured for a counselling helpline, bosses warned.

Debbie Lane, founder of the LGBT+ Cymru Helpline, based in Swansea, said the situation was "heart-breaking".

She said that although it could still counsel clients already in therapy, they had to turn new referrals away, including children.

The National Lottery Community Fund in Wales said the helpline had recently received two grants.

The charity was set up in 2004 and costs about £150,000 a year to run.

Officials said it was able to provide 3,600 sessions a year, helping hundreds of people including children from the age of seven.

In 2021, the counselling side of the charity expanded to be inclusive of heterosexuals, which now make up 30% of its clients, and was relaunched as Swansea Rainbow Counselling Centre.

Half of the clients supported by the helpline, which operates from the YMCA Swansea building, are children and young people.

During the pandemic, the charity received money from the National Lottery and Welsh government to support the demand, which saw the services expanding tenfold after a year. But that money has now come to an end.

Ms Lane said: "It was very painful for me very recently where I had to turn a family away.

"They had a 13-year-old child that had attempted suicide suffering with gender dysphoria… but it broke my heart because I had to say no.

"Sadly, turning people away now has become the norm".

She said she feels sure that "lives will be lost the longer our doors are closed to new referrals coming in, and that is devastating to us".

When Ajax Cole, 28, from Merthyr Tydfil, first contacted the helpline in 2014, they were suicidal and confused about gender and sexuality.

Three years later, Ajax was in Buckingham Palace being awarded Young Person of The Year UK by Princess Anne for volunteering work.

Ajax, who is gender fluid, said: "They have helped me come from a very, very dark place to a more manageable, happier place.

"They are simply amazing, and they've helped me so much. I'm someone who struggles with suicidal thoughts, and I have had attempts in the past... but it's something that I'm learning that it's OK because I don't want to act them out.

"It was thanks to some counselling I had through the LGBT+ Cymru Helpline that helped me to allow me to feel my emotions instead of just push them to the side, so that instead of just boxing them up into a corner, I can just feel them go.

"It's an amazing organisation that Wales definitely 100% needs. It would be a shame to lose this little bit of support.

"Even though we've come a long way from what we were in the past, a lot of LGBT people still face discrimination and hate.

"I know a few people, a few of my friends, who have faced that, and I have as well."

Competition for funding from other charities has meant the helpline has lost its office space, according to the charity's founder Ms Lane.

"There's only certain amounts in the pot," she said.

"Until recently the lottery helped pay for the cost of renting office space. This meant that volunteers could continue to use therapy rooms rather than having to counsel people on the street, as clients often don't have money for a computer to use a virtual platform.

"Most of the people who come for help and advice are said to be in the moderate to severe need category and the team in Swansea say they know they have saved at least 20 lives within the last 12 months."

A spokesperson for The National Lottery Community Fund in Wales said: "The National Lottery Community Fund has recently given two grants to support the LGBT+ Helpline, recognising its value to the LGBT+ community in the Swansea area.

"We awarded a £10,000 award to help them cope with the impacts of rising costs of living, and to sustain their counselling and helpline services, that grant will start in December 2023.

"Their second grant is also for £10,000 and will enable the helpline to offer family counselling services from January 2024. We are aware that the group are part way through our two stage process to apply for a larger grant, and they have until mid March 2024 to send their application for that to us."

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "Our LGBTQ+ Action Plan shows our ambition to become the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe.

"It is important that LGBTQ+ communities are able to seek advice and support when they need it."