Chat Space – A Community for LGBTQ+ Teens
Are you a youth looking for the Q Chat Space online discussions? Go to www.qchatspace.org.
Are you a youth serving professional wanting to know more about Q Chat Space? Read on. You are in the right place.
What is Q Chat Space?
Q Chat Space provides live, chat-based, professionally facilitated, online support and discussion groups for LGBTQ+ teens 13-19.
Check out this video to see what joining a group is like for teens.
What are youth participants saying?
“Thank you again! And I am so excited myself too! I never really got to go physically to [my local LGBTQ+ center] because of family reasons. But now that I have this opportunity. I won’t feel as lonely!”
“A lot of people say that talking online is really impersonal and stuff but I feel so much love radiating from my computer screen.”
“It is just hard to find friends, luckily I have this to talk to people and have a great time just like real life.”
“I’ve just been logging on [to Q Chat Space] for the past few weeks. I do school online, so i don’t get to meet a lot of lgbtq+ kids.”
What organizations are involved in Q Chat Space?
Q Chat Space was developed by CenterLink in partnership with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and PFLAG National and in collaboration with CenterLink member centers. It is a resource for all LGBTQ+ centers and other organizations serving LGBTQ+ youth to better serve youth who cannot access services in person.
Why Q Chat Space?
LGBTQ+ youth need safe opportunities to chat with others like them within a structure that encourages compassionate interactions and discourages bullying and harassment. They don’t like being seen as always in crisis. However, they face many obstacles to accessing in-person resources, from a lack of transportation to an understandable hesitancy to attend face-to-face groups. A young teen often has no practical way to get to a LGBTQ+ community center, when it’s potentially a hundred miles away (or more). Q Chat Space brings a core service of an LGBTQ+ community center, a support group, directly to the teen’s digital device.
Who is Q Chat Space for?
LGBTQ+ and questioning teens, 13-19 years old.
Who facilitates discussions?
Currently experienced staff at 7 LGBTQ+ centers facilitate discussions on behalf of all LGBTQ+ centers.
- JASMYN (Jacksonville, FL)
- LGBT Center Orange County (Santa Ana, CA)
- The LGBTQ Center Long Beach (Long Beach, CA)
- one-n-ten (Phoenix, AZ)
- Resource Center (Dallas, TX)
- SMYAL (Washington, DC)
- Time Out Youth (Charlotte, NC)
How do you make sure it is a safe and secure space?
Like in-person spaces, there is always an adult facilitator present to moderate conversation. If needed, facilitators are able to mute and block participants and administrators are able to remove people from the chat platform completely as well. Participants can be anonymous, only sharing a username and data is encrypted.
I work with youth. How can I let them know about Q Chat Space?
- Refer them to www.qchatspace.org