We at Oxleas started a pioneering group two years ago called ‘Let’s talk about sexuality’. It’s been absolutely amazing what we have achieved during this time. Firstly the group was started by a trainee psychologist called Benny and Greenwich Consultant Psychologist called Joel. They put the word around that we wanted to start a group that follows these principles:
A place to feel safe
Where you are accepted
Feel free to express yourself
Reduce and eventually eradicate discrimination
Educate others that we are valued citizens in todays society
We meet once a month in sunny Woolwich and we have eight members so far. Some people identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans women, straight and asexual. We decided to launch the group at an event in 2022 in Abbey Wood. We were so impressed by the turn out for the event. We had presentations by several people with learning disabilities who shared their story of ‘coming out’. Then Benny described what the group is about and it finished by a talk from Clare from Supported Loving. Then we had cake!
In July 2023 we held an event at the very well recommended Woolwich Works. Chaired by trainee psychologist Nicole who gave a presentation about the importance of being accepted as who you are and learn about the importance of the words we use. Then aspiring actors Rob and Steve did a role play about ‘coming out’ who deserve an Oscar or at the least a Raspberry! We finished off with a quiz. Quinn won a special prize as she named all the of the characters from Heart Stopper! Laura won the overall quiz and got 11 out of 12!
Last year David, Laura and Juliana got to march in London Pride! The photos show what fun they had! Thank you so much for your kindness Rainbow Friends. This year we have two groups going to Pride. One with Rainbow Friends and another with Oxleas. We are very excited about this and pray it doesn’t rain!
Then the group decided to deliver two training events for staff, one at Sidcup and one at Woolwich. We all would learn together about how we can support clients we work with who are LGBTQ+, and will also learn more about how to open up more conversations around these topics with service users, and how to record information related to sexuality and gender identity. These events were very well received and were attended by around 35 members of staff. Massive thank you to Chloe, David, Laura and Richard.
The two years have flown by and we thank everyone who has helped us along the way. We have a party next Friday to celebrate Learning Disability Awareness Week. We will be seeing a musical by ‘Reach’ and then ‘Tramshed Got Talent’ and loads of fun!
Please contact Steve.hardy@nhs.net for further information.
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