Rural Youth Outreach
Providing therapy and social support to queer youth living in rural areas of California.
Program Overview
The Rural Youth Outreach program at Queer LifeSpace is a special offshoot of our broader Youth Services offering. The program provides support for LGBTQIA+ students in rural areas of California where there is limited or no access to queer-affirming resources at school or in the local community. The program aims to connect with students who feel isolated and supports them by providing access to individual and group counseling and other programs that promote their emotional development and social well-being.
RURAL YOUTH Program History & Inspiration
The Rural Youth Outreach program was started in 2017 in connection with Los Banos High School in the Central Valley of California. Los Banos has a noticeable lack of LGBTQIA+ support for not only students but adults in the community. The Rural Youth Outreach program began with individual sessions with high school students and then expanded to group counseling.
After taking a small number of students on a field trip to the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco, and seeing the positive reactions of those students, the program hopes to show more youth that there are healthy, thriving queer communities in the world where they can feel safe and share in a sense of belonging.
“We brought them into San Francisco for the first time and their jaws were just open. They were floored by how queer it was... It had a powerful impact on them just to see and know that they were not alone. That is the biggest function of rural outreach—emphasizing that they’re not alone.”
Why it’s important
In some ways, the current climate in our country is becoming increasingly hostile to the LGBTQIA+ community. Youth, especially those living in rural areas that are underserved and underrepresented, are lacking in the mental, emotional, and physical support needed to cope with the cultural currents. This lack is leading to higher rates of substance abuse, mental health issues, domestic abuse, and suicide. By providing this much-needed support through counseling, the LGBTQIA+ youth of these areas may be equipped with better tools in which to live in their current situations.
Who it serves
The Rural Youth Outreach program focuses primarily on LGBTQIA+ students from low-income backgrounds in rural areas of California who may not be able to afford, or have access to, individual and group counseling. Moreover, they may not have access to clinicians who understand what it’s like to be queer in America today. All counseling sessions are free, thanks to the generosity of donors, so that youth clients can get all the support they urgently need.
Who runs it
Joe Voors, one of the founders of Queer LifeSpace and SF Therapy Collective, originally created the program to serve youth in California’s Central Valley. Today, support has been expanded to also include all of the rural counties of Northern California.
Funding
This program is supported in large part by the The Herlehy Claybaugh Love Fund, a small charitable fund focused on direct services in San Francisco for housing, family services, the LGBTQIA+ community, and education.
”The Queer community has always lifted us up and we are thrilled to be able to support increasing access to LGBTQIA+ mental health services. We appreciate that Queer Lifespace provides an environment for people to truly be seen and heard. In particular, we believe in the potentially life-changing importance for youth access to love and support in times when they need it most.”
MORE INFORMATION
For all inquiries related to the Rural Youth Outreach program, please send an email to info@queerlifespace.org.
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