About the LGBTIQA+ Mentoring Projects
The LGBTIQA+ Mentoring Projects are a peer-support program for community, by community. We aim to promote support networks and build resilience, through identity, skill and community-based supports that are vital to LGBTIQA+ individual and collective social and emotional wellbeing.
Mentoring is about bringing together peers, whether someone is wanting support with coming out, staying discreet, transitioning, navigating relationships with family and loved ones, or just finding themselves and a place in community.
Mentoring is for family members too, who are wanting to understand how to support someone in their life that is LGBTIQA+. For example, your child/young person comes out and you want to learn more about their identity and how to support them, through peer-support for yourself.
People of any ages, disabilities, races, religions, sexualities, genders, cultural identities, and classes can mentor or be mentored.
This service is FREE and runs both online and in-person, based in Narrm/Melbourne.
How does Mentoring work?
The LGBTIQA+ Mentoring Projects provide mentoring peer-support through two main streams:
One-on-one mentoring, which means connecting with another person who is a peer. A mentor might have similar experiences, identities, skills, knowledge, interests, hobbies, activities, community connections, and/or give space to talk about what all this means for you through a one-on-one mentorship.
Please note that one-on-one mentoring can have a waitlist, due to limits in available or suitable mentors.
Peer Group mentoring, which means connecting with a small group of peers. This occurs on an as-needed basis, meaning we currently have a few groups that already exist or could form these groups with other people in the program (mentors and mentees). Most groups are identity, experience, or activity based. We aim for these spaces to include mutual support – meaning that everyone supports each other, and the space is guided by our mentor.
We can chat to you more about these two options during intake, after completing the sign-up form below.
I’m interested in getting a mentor or joining a peer-support group
We unfortunately don’t currently have the capacity to take on any new mentee signups.
We are nearing the end of our funding period and are waiting to see if our funding is renewed after June.
Rest assured this process happens every year – we will provide updates as soon as we are able to.
Please note this does not affect any of the other services provided by Queerspace.
Feel free to email us with any questions you might have at mentoringprojects@ds.org.au.
I’m interested in becoming a mentor…
Firstly, thank you! This program would not exist without the generosity of our mentors!
The steps to BE A MENTOR are outlined below:
- click here to read the position description (PD)
- complete this form to express your interest in being a mentor.
- Someone from the LGBTIQA+ Mentoring Projects team will then make contact to let you know the next stages of becoming a mentor. This is done on an as-needed basis to ensure we have a good mentor:mentee ratio in the program.
- Once there is a need for you as a mentor, we’ll organise for you to attend a short training and induction session. Here we’ll discuss how the program works and complete any outstanding paperwork.
Accessibility information
Click here to see accessibility information.
Have questions?
For any questions about the LGBTIQA+ Mentoring Projects, please contact Drummond Street Services / queerspace via phone on (03) 9663 6733 or email to MentoringProjects@ds.org.au.