Elder Issues & the LGBTQIA+ Community: Joe Ball, Switchboard & Jessica Stott, WIRE Nicholes Family Lawyers Podcast

In this podcast, Rebecca Dahl and Sally Nicholes of Nicholes Family Lawyers speak with Joe Ball, CEO of Switchboard and Jessica Stott, acting CEO of WIRE (Women’s Information Referral Exchange) about Elder Issues in the LGBTQIA community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Switchboard is a not-for-profit organisation providing support services to the LGBTQIA+ community in Victoria, including its ‘Out & About’ social home visiting service for LGBTQIA+ Victorians at risk of social isolation and it’s various telephone and web-based counselling and referral services.

WIRE is a not-for-profit information and referral service for women, non-binary and gender diverse people in Victoria.

Our speakers talk about how their services are helping LGBTQIA+ Victorians during social isolation and how allies can help!

Disclaimer:  In this episode of the podcast we talk about suicide. We know this is a difficult topic for some people. We do not talk about the details of any specific suicide, and we will try to use terms like suicided instead of committed suicide, but even so, this content may be distressing for some people. If that’s you, please look after yourself and skip this episode – we’ve got heaps of other great content you can listen to instead.

Other useful links:

Switchboard: Switchboard Victoria provides peer-driven support services for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender diverse, intersex, queer, and asexual (LGBTIQA+) people, their families, allies, and communities – 1800 184 527 – http://www.switchboard.org.au

Q life: Qlife provides anonymous and free LGBTIQA+ peer support and referral for people in Australia wanting to talk about sexuality, identity, gender, bodies, feelings, or relationships. Webchat – https://qlife.org.au/

Queerspace: Queerspace is an LGBTIQA+ health and wellbeing support service established in 2009 by LGBTIQA+ communities, for LGBTIQA+ communities. Queerspace has a focus on relationships: https://www.queerspace.org.au/contact/

Minus18: Minus 18 lead change, build social inclusion, and advocate for an Australia where all young people are safe, empowered, and surrounded by people that support them. https://www.minus18.org.au/about

Thorne Harbour Health: Thorne Harbour provides support for sex, sexuality, and gender diverse communities. http://www.thorneharbour.org

Rainbow Families: Rainbow Families Victoria is a volunteer community organisation based in Victoria, Australia. RFV supports and promotes equality for ‘rainbow’ families. https://pridecentre.org.au/resources/rainbow-families-victoria

Kids Helpline: a free, private and confidential telephone counselling service – 1800 55 1800 or kidshelpline.com.au

Parent line: a state-wide counselling and support service for all Victorian parents – 13 22 89 or 1300 272 736

Safe Steps: a domestic violence hotline service for women and children – 1800 015 188 www.safesteps.org.au

WIRE Helpline: free support, referral, and information for all Victorian women (non-binary and gender diverse inclusive) – 1300 134 130 a h...