A Northumberland LGBTQIA+ charity has expanded its services to support people across Tyne and Wear.
Pride Action North was previously known as Northumberland Pride and was established in 2017 to organise a yearly Pride celebration for the county's LGBTQIA+ community. However, since the Covid pandemic and lockdowns, it has expanded to offer support services, which have recently seen a 200% rise in referrals and demand.
It has employed eight members of staff to cater to the increased demand for its specialist support and advocacy in areas such as youth work, hate crime, domestic violence and mental health and wellbeing. And as Pride Month comes to a close, it has confirmed that those services, which were previously only available to users in Northumberland, will now expand into Tyne and Wear.
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The expansion comes two months after Pride Action North launched a service specifically aimed at victims of hate crimes in April 2023 This was due to 108% increase in hate crimes relating to sexual identity or gender identity being reported to the area covered by Northumbria Police.
Darren Irvine-Duffy, the charity's chair, said: "The development of the charity has been quite phenomenal when I reflect on the early days of wanting to bring a Pride event to the people of Northumberland so they didn’t have to travel to a city.
"There’s been a very natural transition to an organisation which provides holistic support and meaningful services to ensure every member of our growing community feels accepted for who they are and safe in every environment. As the name suggests, we are an organisation which takes action as we strive towards making the region a safer, more inclusive and accepting place for everybody to live, particularly members of the LGBTQIA+ community."
Among the services Pride Action North provides are a range of community and youth work such as one to one support, counselling, youth and adult group session, mental health and wellbeing support,domestic and sexual violence and abuse support, hate crime support and engagement with schools. It also runs a number of training and development programmes focusing on inclusivity, advocacy, awareness raising and partnership working and collaboration.
Angela Brudenell, charity manager, said it was important to carry out "meaningful and vital work" to "remove discrimination in all its forms. She said: "Allowing as many people to access our services, and receive support and guidance, is of great importance to us as an organisation, and we have strengthened our team and facilities to accommodate an increase in referrals to our services."
To find out more about Northumberland Pride, visit its website.
