Lately I’ve been a bit immersed in the world of mental health services. One of my main clients in Technology Tailoring, my management and technology  consulting business is the BC Schizophrenia Society. They’ve hired me to set up and run an online support group for families like ours who have people we care about with a mental illness. The society has lots of good information on how to cope well with having a loved one with a serious mental illness as well. The support group is just getting started so it could use some brave lesbians (& other queer folks) to get the discussion rolling. I think it’s good for us to have a place to talk about supporting our kinds of families.  You need to register to get access to the group. It’s a private discussion area and you can use your real name or a fake one if that suits you better. I hope you’ll check it out at www.support.bcss.org

Another program helping lesbian, gay, bi & trans families is Prism Alcohol and Drug Services, a Vancouver Coastal Health funded program which “offers counselling and groups for substance-use-affected lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit and queer people, and for trans people regardless of sexual orientation”.  As the program site says, “With Prism, you can be open about all of who you are, and know that you will receive respectful treatment from knowledgeable counsellors.” This edition features an article about Prism and an interview with a lesbian staff member of the organization.

On a lighter note, this edition also features lesbian book blogs and book reviews and some miscellaneous and amusing bits of internet fluff about lesbians.  I was pleased and amazed to discover all the good lesbian content out there, so I brought it home to show you.  We also have a feature on lesbian musical duo Sugar Beach, who performed at this year’s Dyke March stage and are getting married September 1st here in Vancouver.

This edition has more stories than it’s had in a long time.  I hope you enjoy this edition and please keep in mind that I post lots of juicy events listings in between quarterly editions. You can subscribe to the RSS feed to keep in touch or just check back from time to time when you’re looking for places to go and women to see…   

As always, you can check out our regular features:  Lesbian Resources, Lesbian Agenda, Supporting Businesses and the list of stories containing lesbian and women-owned businesses and lesbian and lesbian-led community organisations.

In this issue:

Family members and supporters of persons with mental illness sometimes feel isolated and disconnected with services, and can benefit from peer support. LGTB families may be reluctant to access resources, fearing discrimination. ‘Family member’ in this context means our kinds of families – ex-partners, old friends, room-mates, lovers as well as siblings, cousins, parents, wives and husbands.

The group is an online bulletin board, that is only visible to registered group members, open 24 hours a day. It’s moderated, and you don’t have to use your real name to increase your privacy. It’s meant to be a safe place to discuss the challenges, experiences, questions and successes that go with supporting someone with a mental illness.

The project is looking for volunteer LGTB family members/supporters who are willing to participate in the online group over the first two months, in order to get it established. Volunteer commitment would involve logging in to the group every couple of days at their convenience and initiating or participating in discussion. Participants are welcome to use their real name or a pseudonym and can live anywhere in BC.

Information on resources available to help people caring for a partner, friend or other family member with a mental illness will be provided as well.

For more information, please contect the project coordinator at psychosis@bcss.org  or register on the system at www.support.bcss.org Note, the group has just been launched, so there might not be much discussion yet, but you can help out by initiating a topic or responding to one to get things started. There are also some good resources already posted in the group space. The coordinator is an out lesbian and can help refer people to lesbian and LGTB friendly resources.

Information on services for family members is available at the BCSS Website at www.bcss.org 

Funding for this project was provided by BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information

“Issues specific to the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirit and queer people affect their alcohol and drug use,” said Devon MacFarlane a  Community Developer, Prism Alcohol + Drug Services. “We’ve tailored our program offerings to meet their needs, after talking with this community.

According to lesbian staff member Stacey Boon, who facilitates the women’s (lesbian/bi/queer) group for Prism, specific resources for lesbians with addictions are important because there are barriers that prevent lesbians from getting the help we need. These barriers can include “fear of past discrimination and homophobia”, addictions staff who “believe that therapy can cure homosexuality or gender identity issues” and staff who are “antagonistic” to lesbian and queer clients,  says Boon.

Boon notes that “there is little known about women and addictions in general. A lot of the research on addictions has been done with men, and the results are just extrapolated (or assumed to apply) to women. Similarly, research on gay men and addictions has been extrapolated to lesbian women.” According to Boon, “generally speaking, research indicates that queer people may be heavier users of substances than the general population. In earlier research, lesbians have been identified as heavier users of alcohol. This is questionable though, because older studies have been beset with methodological problems. It is probably safe to say that in addition to the other risk factors (i.e. biological and genetic), the psychological effects of homophobia and heterosexism (both internal and external) might put queer clients at greater risk to use substances. ”

In addition to homophobia and heterosexim, sexism also takes it’s toll on lesbians. Boon notes that just being women in a society where we are second class citizens provides lesbians with issues. “Women who seek treatment present in treatment with more shame, because there is additional stigma for women who abuse substances. It is more unnacceptable for women to abuse substances.” She points out that “women more often come into treatment with histories of violence and abuse because women are more likely to have experienced abuse of various kinds.”

Prism Alcohol + Drug Services will be rolled out over several years. Immediately, services will include one-on-one, couple, and family alcohol and drug counselling, support groups and a men’s methamphetamine program. In addition to the lesbian/bi/queer women’s group, lesbian counsellors are available to provide individual, couple and family counselling to lesbian clients. Counselling services will be provided by lesbian/bi/gay/trans counsellors along with straight allies, but clients will be able to be matched to a counsellor of their orientation or gender identity.

Prism Alcohol + Drug Services are accessible through community health centres in neighbourhoods across the city, including the West End, Commercial Drive, Main Street, South Vancouver, Joyce-Collingwood, and the Downtown Eastside.

Lesbian Health Links:

• Information on the PRISM Program: http://www.vch.ca/prism/
• Lesbian health information: http://www.vch.ca/women/sex/lesbian.htm

The Vancouver-based lesbian pop duo met in Australia where Canadian Marlee Walchuck recruited Australian corporate accountant Tully Callender into her ‘real job’ as a musican. The couple returned to Vancouver and performed recently at this summer’s pride festival. They have just released their debut single “I Just Love Girls”.

Marlee has been in the lesbian music scene for some time, starting with membership in 80’s rock/pop band ‘Mistress’, popular in the Vancouver area.  

Her mainstream experience in the music industry is extensive, starting with her first public live performances with siblings Judy Ginn and Jim Walchuk at the age of 14 – facing 16,000 fans at the Vancouver Coliseum.  She was a regular on the CBC Variety hit “The Judy & Jim Show.” She balanced her club performances with her studio singing for commercials such as McDonalds and BC Lotto, and television appearances on popular programs like The Vancouver show, The Irish Rovers, The Nice Show and many others.

Various duo and trio led to Marlee’s single act which won “Battle of Vancouver’s Best Solo Rock Acts” and a hit single which won 1st prize in the Canadian Song Festival and was on the Canadian A Playlist for 6 months.

Marlee’s album “One More Chance” was released and she toured Canada and Germany playing to crowds of up to 10,000 people. She was nominated for 5 BCCMA awards and won Best Vocalist in 1999.

In 2001, Marlee decided to head down to the land of kangaroos, crocodiles and the endless summer and brought her musical talent as keyboardist and vocalist to Safari, the girls-only cover band born out of Australia style’s famous Party Girls. Marlee’s R&B covers blew the roof off everywhere Safari played and the band leader, Faye Reid, was quoted as saying “I was so busy listening to that voice, I almost forgot to play”.

Tully joined Marlee to form Sugarbeach this year leaving behind her corporate career in Sydney. Tully, who has always had her hand in some musical project or another, from saxophone player in a Jazz band to vocal & piano performances at the Sydney Opera House Town Hall, now focuses on Sugarbeach as her full time gig.

Here’s another online blog-based list of lesbian book reviews. Again this is a separate site and the author there is responsible for the content.

http://alexwolfe.wordpress.com/list-of-reviews/

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LQ Current Supporters

The End Result Projects – home renos, furniture, exterior, interior – Janet Weigelt 604-649-9121 (I’ve hired her for renos on my house, and she’s excellent. -editor)

LQ Past and In-Kind Supporters

• Gay and Lesbian Business Association of BC
• Honeysuckle Rose Cottage
• Jett Grrl Bike Studio
• Lesbian Luxury Adventure Vacation
• Sounds and Furies Productions

Tuesdays: Surrey Coffee Group 7PM @ Java Hut @ 64th Ave & 152
1st Wednesday of the Month: Vancouver Outdoor Club Monthly Meetings 7:30 pm, common room of the Sitka Women’s Housing Coop at 1550 Woodland St. Lesbian outdoor activities. Event planning, presentations, socializing & meeting new members. http://www.outdoorwomen.ca/

Wednesdays—Mildred Women’s Volleyball League Women’s volleyball league running from October to February. Games are played on Wed nights in Burnaby. Register in August. 604-684-9872 x2002

Last Thursday of the Month Valley Girls Dinner at Frogstone Grill in Maple Ridge Connect via yahoogroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/valleygrrls

Last Friday of the Month: Queer Women on the Drive 7-9 pm Seniors Lounge of Britannia Community Centre. All ages, including children if supervised by an adult. 604-684-5307

Friday Nights: Fruity Flick Fridays 103-1033 Davie St. for LGTB folks aged 45+. Free movie night hosted by the Centre’s Generations Project.

Some Saturdays—Women’s Dance @ Waldorf— dates vary so check http://flygirlproductions.com/ $5 B4-10 $10 after

Saturdays & Mondays—Not So Strictly Ballroom same-sex dance classes
http://www.gayvancouver.net/nssb

Saturdays—Country Dancing—quarterly hoe-down for same sex dancers who like country music. Get on the mailing list at cnwdance@telus.net

First 3 Sundays of the Month - W-Group – Social group for LBTQ women in the West End info at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/whangdoodle/

First Wednesday of every month – Vancouver Front Runners Women’s Run once a month Women’s Run. Meeting place is the lobby of the Roundhouse Community Centre at the corner of Davie and Pacific Boulevard at 6:30 p.m. http://www.vancouverfrontrunners.org/