Foundation
"leuchte auf" finances SLADO workshops
The Dortmund-based association SLADO e.V. has been presented with a EUR 8,000 donation by the BVB foundation "leuchte auf". The money will be used to fund a project that is predominantly focused on youths between the ages of 14 and 23.
According to a study by the German Youth Institute, more than 50 percent of the young people surveyed have been insulted or abused on the basis of their sexual orientation on at least one occasion. This kind of hostile behaviour, among other things, is why SLADO e.V. – the Dortmund-based umbrella organisation for gay, lesbian, bisexual or transsexual associations – consistently keeps in contact with young homosexual people who find themselves in exceptional psychological circumstances and are suffering from significant psychosomatic abnormalities as a result. These may include eating disorders, self-harming behaviour or even suicidal thoughts.
For this reason, the umbrella organisation is teaming up with Dortmund-based recreation centre SUNRISE to offer an empowerment workshop for affected young persons. The workshop will teach participants new strategies for dealing with discriminatory experiences. "We would like to support them in developing new self-belief, strengthening their self-perception and to help them to be able to access the resources at their disposal," said Jasmine Klein, a teacher from SUNRISE.
In these empowerment workshops, which will take place on a regular basis over a period of 15 months, the young people will learn new strategies for dealing with discriminatory experiences such as homophobia and bullying. They will confront their negative experiences in a constructive manner and will use a wide variety of methods to do so. Among other things, these include creative projects, theatre rehearsals, training sessions on assertiveness and poetry slams.
The objective of the empowerment workshops is to enable the young persons to dispel derogatory external ascriptions and to instead call for tolerance and diversity within society.
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