Vision
Our vision is that young lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people are fully included in society, with equal access to opportunities, living without fear of prejudice, discrimination and harassment.
Young LGBT people should be given every opportunity to make successful and healthy transitions to adulthood and achieve the best of their hopes and potential.
Our Aims
- To provide social and emotional support, information, referral and signposting for young LGBT people in Cambridgeshire.
- To provide young LGBT people in Cambridgeshire with opportunities for skills development, self-advocacy, inclusion and representation within the wider community.
- To educate, train, provide consultancy and influence external services, regarding both organisations and individuals, to develop awareness of the needs of young LGBT people, challenge homophobia, and promote the full inclusion of LGBT youth.
- To build local, regional and national partnerships to deliver mutual objectives and to strengthen policy and practice in relation to young LGBT people’s health and well-being, equality and inclusion.
- To develop and maintain the internal health of the organisation by providing robust systems for governance, recruitment, monitoring, evaluation, ICT and overall quality assurance. To offer continual professional and skills development to staff, trustees and volunteers.
- To maintain the provision of core services by seeking to secure sustainable funding.
Our Values
- SexYOUality offers support to those young people who are LGBT or unsure of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We believe that everyone has the right to express his, her or their identity without facing discrimination or prejudice.
- SexYOUality will not place any pressure on young people to ‘come out’ as lesbian, gay or bisexual or trans within SexYOUality, school, their private life or in any other situation, but will support them if they choose to do so. We will provide safe spaces and networks within which young people can develop positive peer networks.
- We recognise the proven negative effects of prejudice and discrimination on the health and well being of young LGBT people. We actively facilitate peer support, the development of personal resilience and promote positive, age-appropriate education and activities to minimise risks in relation to sexual health and relationships, alcohol and drugs.
- SexYOUality provides a diverse range of fun, positive, non-formal educational activities that offer young people opportunities to develop knowledge and skills whilst building their self-confidence and esteem. Young people are at the heart of our service and we work to ensure they have a voice and are actively involved in building brighter futures for all young people. SexYOUality’s services will develop inclusive of young people’s influence and feedback to us, as we evolve and learn with them.
- SexYOUality respects and celebrates diversity within and between communities. We value people whatever their age, culture, ability, gender, socio-economic background, ethnic origin, religion or faith and sexual orientation.
- The safety of young people who access our services is very important to us; all our staff and volunteers adhere to our Child Protection Policy and our Confidentiality Policy. Our staff and volunteer team are all positive role models and include experienced youth workers. All staff and volunteers are DBS checked and undergo regular supervision and training.
- As an organisation we seek to communicate openly and honestly with young people, our partners and stakeholders in order to ensure the best possible outcomes for the young people we work with. We strive to make our services as accessible as possible. We challenge homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and heterosexism, and are vocal and active when we encounter prejudice and discrimination against LGBT young people. We seek to raise awareness of LGBT issues throughout all sectors, challenge stereotypes and negative assumptions about LGBT people, and work to build the capacity of mainstream partners to offer accessible and relevant services to LGBT youth.