What we do

In this section, find an overall Introduction and details about the various services Allsorts provides for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and unsure (LGBU) young people.

For LGBTU young people there's the Tuesday night main Drop-in, a place to meet, chat and get to know each other and the project workers. The Helpline offers both phone and email support. Individual support can also be booked - sometimes you may want to speak to someone about a personal matter - this can be arranged either on a Tuesday evening or at another time.

Allsorts also provide Awareness workshops for non-LGBTU young people, e.g. at schools and youth groups. Young people from Allsorts sometimes also volunteer to help out with this work.

Also on the Awareness page find out about Allsorts' training and literature available for those working with LGBTU young people.

Introduction

Background and general overview
Allsorts was set up in 1999 by a group of volunteers who recognised the need to set up a supportive space in Brighton and the surrounding area for young people under-26 who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and unsure. Our first drop in was Tuesday 26th October 1999. We provide:

At the Allsorts Annual General Meeting on the 21st November 2006 a resolution was unanimously passed to include Transgender young people and those who are unsure of the gender identity as members of Allsorts.

• A weekly LGBTU under-26 drop-in in youth centre in central Brighton
  
• One-to-one support and advocacy
  
• A website (with information about the project, local, regional and national links, resources on coming out to parents, members writing pages etc)
  
• An LGBT youth lending library based at the youth centre (including fiction, non-fiction, journals, magazines and training materials and pamphlets for people working with young people)
  
• A confidential phone line and e-mail address for information, advice and support
  
• Workshops and training sessions for young people and adults working with young people
  

The current main area of activity for allsorts is the Tuesday night drop-in. From 5:30pm - 8:30pm each Tuesday, young LGBTU people can meet in an informal atmosphere. Some of the time is spent with general chatting, catching up and getting to know new people, and some is spent doing specific activities, but you don't have to take part in this unless you want to.

Drop-in
One of the main activites of Allsorts is running the Tuesday night drop-in. During the evening, young people can attend the drop-in to meet each other and the project workers and volunteers.

Usually there will be an activity for those who wish to join in. Further details including the programme, questions and answers from a young person's and a worker's point of view are in the Drop-in section of this site.

Allsorts also runs regular single gender (female only, male only) sessions at the drop-in and also run a "men's group" every six weeks on a Thursday evening.

Full details in the Drop-in Section of this site