Social Work with People Practicing Same-Sex ... - ILGA Europe

Raising awareness of the community
This method has a number of characteristic features. These, primarily, include target
audience constrains — LGBT, MSM, WSW and their close environment. Raising awareness
of the community may begin within existing projects for MSM/WSW or in the framework
work of non-governmental organizations and groups operating in the field.
The main purpose of this method is to shape a confident self-attitude among community
members. Confident behaviour helps people better protect their rights and form a
tolerant attitude of the close ones.
The method requires a material and technical support as well as professional knowledge
and only indirectly affects the general population.
Raising awareness of the community includes dissemination of specialized information
via web-sites, periodical publications, brochures, booklets, posters, stickers as well as
providing specialized services and counselling.
Civic organizations represent an important source of information for the LGBT community
and its close environment. Operating on a project basis, civic organization may provide
medical, legal, psychological and other important counselling services, disseminate
specialized publications, conduct seminars, trainings, mutual support groups and
outreach activities. In Ukraine, community centres for LGBT operate in Nikolayev and
Kherson, and for MSM — in Kyiv. Community centres and civic organizations for LGBT
create a safe supportive environment and provide a platform for personal development
for members of the LGBT community. In some cases, people who have received social
support from civic organizations (through seminars, trainings, discussion clubs and
mutual support groups) may become leaders of initiative groups and, subsequently,
leader of LGBT civic organizations.
Popular science publications, including the ones based on research findings on
LGBT-related subjects, play an important role in raising community awareness. Such
publications supply LGBT activists with arguments that they can use in their advocacy
efforts, they also help plan activities for the promotion of healthy life style, HIV/STD
prevention and human rights protection.
Human rights monitoring centres are projects operated by non-governmental
organizations. These projects may serve as a framework for training members of LGBT
community on how to document instances of discrimination and correctly apply rights
protection mechanisms.
Hotlines represent an easy way of getting necessary assistance in a crisis situation, as well
as information on healthy life style, sexuality, HIV/STD prevention, services available in
one's region. No hotline service for LGBT yet exists in Ukraine. Nevertheless, if needed
one may use services of the national hotline for HIV/AIDS and drug use issues 1 . While
discussing hotlines, it is worth mentioning that in Israel there is a network of hotlines
for LGBT adolescents, adults and LGBT parents. These hotlines enable people to obtain
information on healthy life style, sexuality, and HIV/STD prevention, create a supportive
environment and also helps find a right way-out in a crisis situation, when coming out,
and in cases of stigma and discrimination.
Raising awareness of the community
This method is targeting only LGBT, MSM, WSW and their close environment and is
implemented through the existing projects. It includes:
1. Active organizations, initiative groups, and community centres
2. Specialized information materials: brochures, booklets, posters, and stickers.
3. Publication of research findings.
4. Web-sites, LGBT (newspapers, magazines) and periodicals ( bulletins,
newsletters).
5. Human rights monitoring centres
6. Hotline
1 National HIV/AIDS and drug use
hotline: 8-800-500-45-10
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