Take Pride in Your Wellbeing
I first got involved with Brunswick through Mind Your Head(https://happyvalleypride.co.uk/mind-your-head), a mental health campaign developed in partnership with Happy Valley Pride. This was back during Covid, when I was on the Happy Valley Pride board and many of us were thinking about isolation, community, mental health, and what support looked like when people could not come together in the usual ways.
Through that work, it was clear that LGBTQ+ people were more likely to be affected by a range of mental health issues, but often less likely to seek support. That same gap exists in other areas too, including smoking, drugs, alcohol, domestic abuse, cancer screening and sexual health.
That thinking is at the heart of Well Proud
(www.thebrunswickcentre.org.uk/wellproud). Led by Brunswick and delivered with partners across Calderdale and Kirklees, Well Proud brings together a range of LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing initiatives. This includes work around mental health, stopping smoking, cancer awareness, substance use, domestic abuse, HIV prevention, sexual health, young people’s wellbeing, and wider community connection.
LGBTQ+ people often face health inequalities across many areas because discrimination, stigma, minority stress, isolation, poor experiences of services, and
fear of judgement all have an impact. If you have had to come out repeatedly in healthcare settings, been misgendered, had your relationships misunderstood, or felt that a service was not really designed with you in mind, it can affect whether you ask for help next time. Some people delay support, avoid appointments, or get used to managing things on their own.
Well Proud is one way of trying to close that gap.
Queer as Smoke (www.thebrunswickcentre.org.uk/queer-as-smoke) is a good example. LGBTQ+ people are more likely to smoke than the general population, but
less likely to seek support to stop. Working in partnership with Yorkshire Smokefree Calderdale, Queer as Smoke offers stop smoking information and guidance that recognises those realities and speaks directly to LGBTQ+ communities without judgement.
LEVEL (https://levelchange.org.uk) is another important part of the work, providing specialist support around domestic abuse and harm in LGBTQ+ relationships, including work with people who have caused harm and support for partners. This matters because abuse in LGBTQ+ relationships can involve specific dynamics, including identity, outing, shame, community pressure, and the fear that mainstream services may not understand. Other Well Proud initiatives include Queer Bits, which encourages LGBTQ+ people to self-check and attend cancer screening appointments; DRAG, which opens up
conversations around substance use, and many more.
What I value about Well Proud is that it does not treat LGBTQ+ wellbeing as one single issue. It recognises that health is shaped by relationships, identity, confidence, community, safety, access to services, and the everyday experience of being able to show up as yourself.
The work with Happy Valley Pride is part of it, alongside links with other local Pride events, health services, community organisations, and other specialist partners. These relationships help make sure the work reaches people in the places where
they already are.
For me, Well Proud feels like a natural continuation of the work that started with Mind Your Head. It says that LGBTQ+ wellbeing deserves proper attention and a tailored approach, not as an add-on, but as part of creating healthier communities. So, if you see Brunswick or Well Proud out and about at Pride events across Calderdale and Kirklees this summer, come and say hello. Pick up a Well Proud bag, find out more about the different projects.
Malcolm Struthers - Brunswick