ITAC were delighted to receive funding from Education Services 2010 to organise a training morning to equip frontline staff working in the homelessness sector with specialist knowledge in LGBTQ+ inclusion and domestic abuse awareness.
Our support staff were joined by colleagues from Cambridge City Council and other local organisations including Cambridge Cyrenians, Cambridge Women’s Aid, Winter Comfort and the Quakers Meeting House.
Bethan Rees from The Kite Trust delivered training on how to support LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness, including a session to help with understanding the recent Supreme Court ruling and EHRC guidance, and the implications for organisations such as ITAC who provide support in gendered spaces like The Haven.
LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately affected by homelessness, with 1 in 5 reporting having been homeless at some point in their lives. The figure for trans people is even higher (25%) according to Crisis.
Lis Silver for ITAC said ‘We are very aware that amongst the people we work with there is a significant over representation of people from the LGBTQ+ community, many of whom will have suffered abuse, violence or loss of accommodation as a direct result. Some people will be happy to speak openly, others choose not to disclose.
We organised this training session to improve our understanding of complex trauma and promote empathetic and informed service delivery, enabling provision of better support for marginalised people experiencing homelessness. We will be working to embed this training in the services we deliver, to make them inclusive – a place where every person feels welcomed and accepted’.
