METRO charity with PACE win funds to support LGBTQ young people’s mental health

METRO Charity in partnership with mental health charity PACE, has been awarded project funding from the Government to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people’s mental health.

METRO has been awarded nearly a quarter of a million pounds to work with PACE to provide an integrated specialist service to support practitioners and to improve their ability to support LGBTQ young people and their families across Greater London, Kent and Medway. The project will also provide direct counselling, training and national resources.

The Department for Education’s Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) grants amount to nearly £25 million and will be used to reform or deliver life-changing services over the next year through 94 projects that will make the biggest impact on children, young people and their families. For the first time the Department has separately identified mental health as a theme in the VCS grants in recognition of the significant role improvements in this area have in supporting better outcomes for children and young people. Organisations specialising in child mental health care will receive a total of £4.9m.

Dr Greg Ussher, METRO Chief Executive said: “METRO is delighted to receive this funding from the Department for Education (DfE) to enable us to work with our partners at PACE to extend much-needed support to all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people across London, Kent and Medway and their families. We know through our Youth Chances research that LGBTQ young people are at massively increased risk of depression, suicidal thoughts and self-harm.  We also know that there is a deficit in mental health services for young people and very little specialist provision for LGBTQ young people.  This investment from the DfE will mean that young people can have direct access to services when they need them and will save lives”.

Margaret Unwin, PACE Chief Executive added: “PACE has been working with the DfE for four years already to improve relationship support for LGBT people, with really excellent results.  The opportunity to join with METRO on this new project is really exciting.  We look forward to using PACE and METRO’s combined skills and expertise to bring about significant change for LGBT young people and their families”.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan MP, said: “I’m delighted to give this injection of support to the voluntary sector, who offer life changing services to children and their families.  This was a highly competitive process and every bid given money today has shown that they will put the funds to great use. This is a significant investment in a tough financial climate which will make a real difference across the country”.