LGBTQ+ Peer Support Roundtable Discussion

This roundtable discussion will focus on queer and trans communities, including international and digital practices of solidarity, support, and care. It will include a range of discussants from Australia and abroad who offer a range of expertise relevant to community-led practices of queer and trans peer support.

This hybrid event will take place on Gadigal Country (UTS central campus) and online, and welcomes LGBTQ+ community members and our friends to attend and participate.

There is no cost, but registration is essential.

The value of informal peer support within LGBTQ+ communities is well known, but not commonly centred in research and public discussions about the health needs and experiences of queer and trans people. LGBTQ+ histories increasingly account for friendship solidarities as foundational to queer and trans activism; researchers increasingly highlight how social media host vital peer support for LGBTQ+ teens and adults; and as queer and/or trans people, we have firsthand knowledge of the value (and potential shortcomings) of peer support. We know that when families, health care systems, schools, and other institutions fail queer and trans folks, peers often show up to provide vital guidance, support, and care.

This event brings together scholars, practitioners and community members from a range of LGBTQ+ projects and settings to generate a well-rounded discussion of queer and trans peer support. Discussants will share their knowledge, understandings of, and questions about, informal support practices, histories, and spaces. Rather than seeking to consolidate our ideas to produce a shared agenda, we look for potential ways to further engage with the circuits and flows of peer support within our practices and communities.

The conversation is not restricted to academic research, but draws on our networks and collective resources to discuss potential work in the space of LGBTQ+ peer support - digital and otherwise, local and otherwise.

Discussants’ will speak from their practices and concerns, from their many roles within the LGBTQ+ community sector, health services, and/or academic disciplines spanning health, media studies and more. In doing so, we will see where the conversation takes us.

Registration is essential and spaces are limited. For those attending in person, morning tea will be provided following the event (11am-12pm).

Discussants

Charlie Cooper (he/him) is a PhD candidate and research assistant in Orygen’s Suicide Prevention Research Unit, and a provisionally registered psychologist completing a research-practitioner pathway in Educational and Developmental Psychology at Monash University. Charlie began working in the mental health sector ten years ago as an online peer support worker and has since worked extensively with young people across community mental health and research roles. Charlie’s doctoral research examines how queer and trans young people use social media to communicate about and seek help for self-harm and suicide, with the aim of understanding how the benefits of social media for LGBTQ+ youth can be harnessed while reducing the risk of online harm.

Jessie Fedoriw-Morris (they/them) is a HDR candidate in the School of Nursing at the University of Technology Sydney, and a registered nurse in the acute care team at St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, provisioning crisis mental health care delivery in the community setting. Their research explores the experiences of involuntary mental health care delivery on trans and gender-diverse people within hospital-based inpatient and emergency department settings.

Joel Humphries (he/him) is a PhD candidate in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT, researching how queer communities engage with emerging internet technologies, such as the metaverse and blockchain. Drawing from queer theory and media studies, Joel’s practice interrogates the intersection of queerness and technology, culminating in his cult newsletter, Queer Computer.

Joey Stofberg (they/them) is a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Their project focuses on the intersectional challenges faced by LGBTQ+ young people of colour in the Netherlands in their everyday pursuit of community, joy, and empowerment. Situated at the nexus of politics, new media (technologies), and culture, Joey’s interdisciplinary research experiences coalesce in the overarching theme of “belonging” in post-digital and globalised contexts.

Kieren Lilly (he/they) is a social psychologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) at the University of Queensland. His research examines the relationships between inequality, social identity, health, and collective action, with a particular interest in the experiences of LGBTQ+ people across Australasia.

Olu Jenzen (she/her) is professor of Media and Digital Culture at the University of Southampton, whose research focuses on LGBTQ+ youth digital cultures, visual activism and social justice. She is leading an AHRC-funded project on how community belonging can improve liveability, build collective resilience, and support young trans and gender diverse people’s wellbeing in the UK.

Shubha Kayastha (she/her) is a feminist activist from Indigenous Newa community in Nepal who works in the intersection of gender, sexuality and technology. Shubha is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at RMIT where she is studying how young queer people in Nepal are navigating their visibility and privacy in digital space, using feminist and queer theories. During 2017-2023, she served as the founding director of a Nepal based digital rights organisation, Body & Data. Shubha is a member of a global south-led transnational feminist alliance Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice (RESURJ) and an associate member at Association of Progressive Communication (APC).

Thy O'Donell (he/him) is a PhD Candidate in the School of Sociology at the Australian National University (ANU), His research explores the desires and expectations that trans* and gender diverse people may have when considering their engagement with Palliative and End-of-Life Care. Thy has previously worked as a peer worker at a trans*, gender diverse & intersex community organisation in Canberra. 

Facilitator:

Paul Byron (he/him) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication, UTS. Paul researches digital care and peer support practices among LGBTQ+ young people, with particular attention to TikTok and other social media platforms. He is co-Chair of the Australian chapter of the International Network for Queer Youth Resilience and has written the book Digital Media, Friendship, and Cultures of Care (2021). 

For any questions, email Paul on paul.byron@uts.edu.au.

Please note: if you register for online attendance, a Zoom link will be emailed to you closer to the date.