Figuring out who we are and how to live the life we want can be stressful. Building your resiliency and mindfulness skills can be helpful.

You’ve probably spent a lot of time already thinking about who you are and what’s important to you. Whether you’re questioning or have been out for years, there are things about being LGBTQ+ that can be stressful. Mindfulness can help you navigate challenging questions and issues as they come up, and it can also help you build skills to support you for the rest of your life. Change to Chill’s activities for LGBTQ+ youth can help you deal with stress and anxiety. These awareness exercises and education resources for LGBTQ+ are for the community, as well as those with LGBTQ+ loved ones.

Figuring It Out

Everyone has a gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. These are not binary (e.g., just male or female) and our understanding of our gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation is always evolving. Learn more with these LGBTQ+ education resources:

Finding Your People

Having a support system is important for all young people. Young people who identify as LGBTQ+ may have experiences that could (but not always) add additional stress and anxiety to their life. Some of the situations could include coming out, bullying in schools, navigating relationships and friendships. The people in your support system should help you when you need it, and they should also celebrate you for who you are.

Coming Out and Being Out Stress

Coming out is when a person decides to reveal an important part of who they are with someone in their life. For many LGBTQ+ youth, this may involve sharing sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Coming out is ultimately that person’s decision, no one must come out or disclose this information to anyone. Some people are out to everyone in their life, others are out only with certain people or in certain situations where they feel safe. Coming out can be an exciting experience for people, and for some people, it can feel scary, stressful, or cause anxiety. The LGBTQ+ youth activities and workshop ideas below can help you think about feelings related to coming out or being out.

LGBTQ+ MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES

There can be some risks to coming out or being out. People may not respond well, which can be difficult to deal with. For some LGBTQ+ youth, this can impact their mental and physical health, as well as their home and school lives. You are not responsible for another person’s feelings, especially if they struggle to accept who you are. You deserve to be safe and supported. Knowing who in your life can support you and what resources are available if someone does not respond well is really important. The following LGBTQ+ education resources and activities can help.

LGBTQ+ EDUCATION RESOURCES FOR ADULTS

Having at least one caring, trusted adult makes a huge difference for LGBTQ+ youth and their mental health, but sometimes adults don’t know where to start. The following information and LGBTQ+ education resources can help them create space for learning and support.