20/10/2020 | Writer: Yiğit E Korkmaz

The Pink Life Association established a Psychological Counseling Department to provide psychological support and counseling.

Pink Life Psychological Counseling Department has been established! Kaos GL - News Portal for LGBTI+

The Pink Life Psychological Counseling Department was founded to provide mental healthcare support to trans and LGBTI+'s both in their dealing with everyday difficulties and discrimination, as well as in development and adaptation processes.

In which areas will the Department of Psychological Counseling work?

The department's working areas will be as follows:

To provide counseling to empower individuals, who have applied to Pink Life and identifying themselves under the trans umbrella and/or LGBI+, against personal and social issues, overcoming emotional difficulties, ensuring behavior and attitude changes, and methods and self-awareness increase,

To provide psychological support and counseling online, and face to face after the pandemic, to improve the ability of trans people and LGBİ+'s to deal with violence and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, and issues faced during the sex adaptation process and within the social environment,

To lead efforts in improving the mental health of trans people and to create an active psychological support network in the field of combating discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, consisting of mental healthcare workers trained in the field of development and adaptation of trans identities and providing psychological support, counseling and therapy for free or low fees,

Through the newly established Pink Life LifeLine*; providing psychological emergency support to cope with feelings which seem beyond recall at first, such as desperation, despair, and suicidal thoughts and to carry out psychological follow-up and guidance of callers if necessary,

Working within the association to provide psychological support through group work in the field of mental health awareness, sustainability of mental well-being, coping with stress, anxiety, anger

You can send your e-mails to psikolojikdanisma@pembehayat.org in order to contact the department.

*The phone number of Pink Life LifeLine will be posted soon.

Establishment process

The Pink Life Association describes the establishment process of the department as follows:

“Our mental health was affected as much as our physical health during the pandemic. As trans', LGBI+'s and sex workers, this period has affected us much more than before. However, even if you spend your isolation process by staying at home, you do not have to spend it alone by reaching the Pink Life LGBTI+ Solidarity Association Psychological Counseling Department. Within the scope of the "Institutional Support Project for Human Rights" funded by the EU Delegation to Turkey and run by the Memory Centre and Heinrich Böll Stiftung, we employed psychological counselors in the association's office in Ankara.”

As mentioned in the Equality Manifesto, we will continue our struggle in the field of psychological support as well as in all other areas until everyone is equal with the trans community. Remember, we're neither wrong nor alone. In pandemic or afterward, we once again say this together: Despite hate, hooray life!

Group meetings will continue

Trans Talks group work and coming out meetings, which Pink Life has been holding for years but have had to suspend for some time, will also begin again after the necessary measures are taken according to the pandemic conditions.


Tags: human rights, life
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