Support that matters!
Because we know people’s experiences can be so varied, and the way you access our services can and will be unique, we provide support to meet your individual needs and circumstances.
“We aim to improve lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people in Wales.”
What services do we offer?
Umbrella Cymru is a specialist gender and sexual diversity support service. We offer support to people of all ages, all over Wales. Our support is available to LGBTQ+ people and their families, and we offer support to other professionals.
Did you know? We support children and young people, as well as adults of all ages. We’ve supported many primary and secondary school aged children, and adults well into their 80s. There’s no age limit to being yourself. Whatever age, we will always try to help.
Support for someone in a personal capacity:
Our support services include emotional support, practical support, information and signposting, listening services, and advocacy.
Did you know? LGBTQ+ people are more likely to experience issues with physical and mental health, homelessness, unemployment, discrimination, hate crime, inequitable health services, social isolation, loneliness and using drugs, alcohol.
The most common requests we receive include support relating to:
- Building self confidence in gender or sexual identity,
- Coming out to family, friends, colleagues and communities,
- Transitioning at home, work or in public,
- Understanding and navigating gender healthcare services
- Changing names and gender markers (passports, official documents etc.),
- Supporting LGBTQ+ children, parents, partners or other family members,
- Dealing with bullying, hate crime or discrimination,
- Understanding healthy and safe relationships,
- Homelessness and appropriate accommodation, and much more.
Once we receive a request for support, we’ll start by discussing current circumstances, history, hopes for the future, and support goals. This helps us develop a package of support tailored to each person.
Following the initial discussion, we aim to provide as much information as possible immediately. We’ll prioritise any requirement for ongoing support based on the information provided and allocate a support worker as soon as possible.
Support for someone in a professional capacity:
We receive a high volume of requests from professionals for partnership working or shadowing opportunities. We are small team, and we aren’t always able to work for sustained periods with other professionals in this way. However, we can offer a range of resources, guidance and suggestions, and helpful information and signposting services.
Did you know? We can also discuss training and wider learning and development opportunities for individual professionals, teams and organisations. Email us for more information about how we can help.
Links and Resources
We regularly update our info portal with information that might be helpful to individuals and professionals.
Make an individual request (self-referral or request for a family member) or an agency referral through HERE
Contact us by phone, email or text message, or follow us on social media @umbrellacymru.