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SEGment organisation offers improved support for gay mental health service users and professionals

Coping with other people’s prejudices about your mental ill health is one thing – but it can be twice as hard to handle if you happen to be gay as well. That is the experience of Paul Sampson who is helping forge a new direction for a group set up to help people with the same experiences.

Members of SEGment [Sexuality Equality Group for mental health] have met regularly in Norwich since the group formed several years ago.

“Just meeting people and talking to them gives you support and confidence,” said Paul. “Really, it’s just like a family, although in many ways it is better than a family because you can talk about things you can’t talk about with your parents, like safe sex advice.”

Paul, who lives in Suffolk, continued: “You always suspect you are not the only one. But when you meet other people you know that you are not the only one – there is a support network out there for you.”

Paul’s mental ill health was apparent during his middle school days, when he was bullied right up to the day he left education. It took him several years to realise he was gradually ‘sinking’ but was eventually persuaded to seek help. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder [manic depressive illness] and an obsessive personality disorder.

It’s taken some time, but Paul has learned to manage his symptoms, and SEGment has played a great part in helping him get his life back on track.

With this year comes a new era for the group. A website has been set up to promote SEGment and its aims while a helpline is now available for people wanting a friendly ear. Leaflets and posters promoting the group are also available in mental health facilities and gay venues in the area.

Occupational therapist Helen Simpson, of Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, helped set up the group with Jane Galliford, a service user and is looking forward to its new future.

“I realised there were other members of staff who were gay but they didn’t want to tell anyone,” she said. “I was aware that if other staff members felt that way then how would a client, who was in a much more vulnerable situation, feel?”

Jane is the social secretary and organises the regular meetings, which she has done for several years now. She knows how difficult it can be to be both gay and have mental health needs.

“One problem with being gay and a mental health service user is the concern that if you tell your support worker about your sexuality, you will be treated differently and not get the care you need. In the same vein, other gay people may not want to know you if you have a mental health need, which prevents you joining the gay scene,” she said.

As well as helping themselves, members of SEGment are also helping health and social care professionals understand the issues of being gay and having a mental health need. Anyone who attends the group is also invited to help train staff about how they can more effectively understand individual people’s needs.

For further information about SEGment visit website: www.segment.org.uk Telephone helpline: 07870 284697 and is open office hours.

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