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Understanding LGBTIQ+ Lives in Crisis

The Lifeline Research Office partnered with La Trobe University with the support of ACON and QLife to increase understanding of needs, motivators, and barriers that currently affect LGBTI+ peoples’ uptake of crisis support services. This is the first research of its kind in Australia that explores the needs of LGBTI+ people during a time of personal or mental health crises.

Project Summary

In 2019 the Lifeline Research Office partnered with La Trobe University, with support from QLife and ACON, to investigate the needs, motivators and barriers that currently impact LGBTIQ+ peoples’ use of crisis support services. This is the first research of its kind in Australia. It focuses on their uptake and familiarity with crisis support services in Australia, their perceptions and experiences with crisis support services, and where they might seek other professional mental health service support during a time of crisis. This study enhances the evidence base for those working to design, resource or deliver services to meet the needs of LGBTIQ+ people in Australia during times of crisis.

You can access the report here.

Recent publications 

The experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual people accessing mental health crisis support helplines

Lim, G., Waling, A., Lyons, A., Pepping, C.A., Brooks, A., Bourne, B. (2022). Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19419899.2021.1904274?journalCode=rpse20

  • This paper reports on an online survey which asked 248 sexual minority adults from across Australia about a previous personal crisis where they had accessed, or had considered accessing, a crisis helpline service.
  • The results indicated that despite a low rate of service uptake, many of those who had used a service evaluated it positively.
  • The low rate of overall engagement was attributed to a fear of being discriminated against by helpline workers or arose from a concern that they would have insufficient understanding of LGBTIQ+ specific concerns to be able to render meaningful support.
  • The findings indicate that additional Crisis Supporter training and further outreach efforts are required to promote helpline service uptake among sexual minority persons.  

 

Trans and Gender-Diverse peoples’ experience of crisis helpline services

Lim, G., Waling, A., Lyons, A, Pepping, C.A., Brooks, A., & Bourne, A. (2021). Available at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33704863/

  • This paper reports the results of a survey exploring the experiences of trans and gender-diverse peoples’ experience of crisis and utilising crisis helplines.
  • Of a sample of 134 participans, 84.2% of participants recognised at least one service - however, only 32.8% utilised a service to cope with a personal crisis.
  • Participants cited poor recognition and understanding of the challenges specific to trans and gender-diverse individuals among helpline workers as a primary reason for avoiding these services, and articulated needs which were a poor fit for the one-off intervention model commonly employed by helpline services.