COLORADO SPRINGS — Inside Out Youth Services, a nonprofit in Colorado Springs dedicated to “build access, equity, and power with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit (LGBTQIA2+) youth from Southern Colorado,” is working with YouthSeen to offer free therapy.
YouthSeen provides mental health and healing services for Queer and Trans people of color.
“Working with this population has been such a growing experience,” said Chris Wade, a licensed professional counselor and Inside Out’s new resident clinician. “I’m so excited to continue to serve in a way that creates more access and fewer barriers to gender-affirming care in the Colorado Springs community!”
Youth and families may begin booking appointments immediately by contacting Wade at (719) 401-3167. The sessions will be held at IOYS located at 23 N Wahsatch Ave., #101, in Colorado Springs.
“Every day, we witness the dire need for LGBTQIA2+-affirming mental health services in the Pikes Peak region, especially for our young people,” a IOYS wrote in a statement on Monday. “Along with the incredible challenges posed by adolescence and young adulthood, LGBTQIA2+ youth can face discrimination and stigma, family rejection, and higher rates of suicidality and substance use. And yet there is a huge lack of mental health support for these young people and their families.”
And spokespeople from both groups say this collaboration “speaks to a larger conversation of what it means to support our youth in all areas.”
The IOYS center also offers crisis services.
For immediate help, IOYS suggests the following resources:
