Help-Seeking: Recognition, Power and Affective Relations

Abstract

Throughout our work, we have been concerned with the ways queer youth may seek help when they feel they have failed to meet normative expectations of adolescent heterosexuality. We are interested in whether they request help and when, how and why they seek help and support from youth organisations, adults and peers, mental health services and queer communities. We know that distressed queer youth have difficulties accessing help (Grossman and D’Augelli, 2006; Lucassen et al., 2011; McDermott, 2014) but we know practically nothing about how they might search for assistance, who they look to for help and whether this support is successful. The scant evidence we have about distressed queer youth’s help-seeking indicates that they may be reluctant to use mainstream mental health services (PACE, 2010; McDermott et al, 2013a) and school-based services (Williams and Chapman, 2011) and rely on LGBT voluntary organisations for support with respect to suicidal distress (Johnson et al., 2007; McDermott et al, 2008; Scourfield et al., 2008). Lorraine (17, gay, white), for example, from our Face-to-Face Study, spoke about the importance of the LGBT youth group she went to for help:

Lorraine: My support definitely came from (LGBT youth support group). I’ve been coming here since I was 15.

Researcher: Right.

i was just hoping someone out there would have some advice, or understand how i feel? Any comments would help.

(Contributor to online queer youth forum, Online Ethnographic Study)