Report into LGBTQ+ young people's experiences in rural areas will help community groups generate chance, believes Youth Highland chief executive Clair Nichols
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Youth Highland chief executive Clair Nichols called statistics in a recently released report into life for LGBTQ+ young people in rural areas "diabolical" – but says having the data in black and white will be a good thing for helping generate change.
The charity runs a network of youth groups across the Highlands, and Nichols was invited to be a panellist at Eden Court in Inverness for the release of LGBT Youth Scotland's rural report earlier this month, which showed that LGBTQ+ young people in rural areas felt their communities were significantly less welcoming than their non-rural counterparts.
That ties in with what Nichols and her team has heard from the young people they work with all over the Highlands, but while not painting a particularly positive picture of life in the north of Scotland Nichols knows that having evidence of the issue they face is a key step in finding ways to solve it.
"I'm really excited about the report – I'm really pleased it has happened, and that they have picked specific issues to look at like rural experiences," she explained.
"There are more national organisations with influence that are now recognising that looking at rurality is going to be important in terms of improving people's lived experience, so that's very welcome.
"The report has the diabolical information about six out of 10 young people living in rural areas being unhappy with where they live, and we need to change that.
"I'm pleased that what I've been hearing is now recognised and written down. That's going to be really helpful in trying to make positive things happen for young people in the Highlands.
"When a national report is published like this, it gives us as youth workers and as an organisation evidence to back up what we have been saying locally.
"What I hope will happen is that as a result, Youth Highland might be able to have conversations with people with influence and in positions of power to bring about positive change for LGBTQ+ young people, which can only be good.
"I also hope that our youth workers will be able to use elements of the report to negotiate change in local communities.
"It can only be a great thing for youth work. I'm very excited that it so clearly recommends the need for more community-based youth work for young people to know their rights and belong."
Youth Highland earned their LGBT+ charter silver mark – provided by LGBT Youth Scotland to recognise proactive inclusion for the community – in the summer, and plans are already in place for member clubs to follow in their footsteps.
If successful, there is every reason to be optimistic that increased visible support for LGBTQ+ young people will help move the data in the rural report in a positive direction.
"What we've been doing strategically for a long time is trying to develop locally-placed safe spaces for all young people, and improving that work in local communities," Nichols explained.
"We've been training youth workers in local communities to be able to understand and respond to what young people need, so this absolutely fits in with our long-term strategy which we have trialled and now have evidence is working.
"I think we're doing a bit of really exciting work at the moment. We worked hard to gain our LGBT+ silver charter mark in the summer, and now we're in the process of supporting a club in Thurso, a club in Inverness and a club in Easter Ross to get theirs.
"There is a bit of resource in getting the charter mark, and it is a lot of work, so we're starting with three clubs but I think that once they get into that process and other clubs hear that you can do it, more and more community organisations will take up that challenge.
"Then we will be able to see community organisations being able to prove that they have an inclusive practice and they know how to make people feel welcoming and belonging.
"That could be really good, and it could make a real difference to enabling young people to feel good about where they live, and that's what change we need to see.
"Hopefully we will see an increase in inclusive places for young people with no stigma and trusted adults who can support young people to celebrate and be themselves amongst their peers."
Nichols has been chief executive of Youth Highland for 10 years, so she is perhaps uniquely placed to assess progress that has been made over the last decade.
While significant strides forward have been made though, for example with the embedding of inclusive education into the Scottish school curriculum, she feels it will take longer for social progress to be seen in force.
"In terms of community development and change, 10 years isn't actually very long," she added.
"I think what we're seeing is a really exciting lens that is becoming much clearer on the power of community, caring about the individual and looking at a more person-centred approach.
"There has been legislation and policy in place for quite a long time around community empowerment from the Scottish Government, but we're not beginning to see that have an impact on the ground, and that's got to be positive.
"Every single person has power and potential, and I think that this kind of work has the potential to enable people to meet that potential.
"I'm really pleased that communities are being recognised as a space where that interesting and exciting work can happen. What we need to see now is a little bit more support, and a little bit more resource going directly to communities so that they can offer really high quality opportunities for LGBTQ+ young people locally.
"If we can invest in prevention work and local community work, then that costs less in the long run, so I am talking about financial resource but I guess I'm also looking at how we can recognise social wealth. That's about people and skills, and places – all of those things are part of the jigsaw as well.
"In our local communities we have beautiful facilities and spaces, we have wonderfully skilful and intelligent people who are well-placed to do the work, and we need to recognise those things because they are part of a jigsaw which is about resource.
"Managing resource is about managing people, places and money to get the best outcomes for people."
