At risk youth are children and teens who will have challenges transitioning into adulthood for several reasons. The challenges can be caused by trauma, living in underserved communities that do not have the necessary resources to help youth thrive, medical and physical conditions or injuries, substance use, and mental health ailments, just to name a few.

Without appropriate intervention, youth may experience poor educational outcomes, challenges with attaining employment, addiction, risk of harm to themselves or others, interaction with law enforcement, lack of fulfillment in their relationship with others, and poor mental and physical health outcomes. With early intervention, youth can lead a life of fulfillment by gaining the support, skills, and confidence to help them thrive despite future hardships they may face.

Identifying as LGBT+ can be easy for some and hard for others. Distress associated to it is not often caused simply by how you identify. Unfortunately, it can be due to stress and trauma directed toward you for how you identify. For some, identifying as LGBTQ+ may be difficult and confusing, and the conflicting thoughts can be distressing. In this space, you will be accepted to be who you are to regain trust after the attacks inflicted onto you and your conflicting thoughts.

Sometimes, loved ones have a difficult time adjusting to how you identify. It is not necessarily because they don’t love or care for you. Loved ones can grieve with “losing” the identity of a loved one they feel they “had”, and no longer “have”. Although it is not fair nor your fault, loved ones may go through stages of grief.