QueerMieli – Promoting Mental Health Among LGBTIQA+ Students

QueerMieli is Nyyti’s three-year project (2024-2026) for promoting mental health among LGBTIQA+ students. The aim is to support mental wellbeing among LGBTIQA+ students within higher education, to increase awareness about the consequences of minority stress and to promote good praxis for improving LGBTIQA+ accessibility together with the university community.

In the QueerMieli project’s peer support groups we gather with other LGBTIQA+ students to chat, share experiences and to get and offer others peer support.

The aim of the peer support activities is to support the mental wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ students: to provide skills to recognize minority stress and strengthen the resilience to cope with such experiences. The groups provide a space for sharing experiences, thoughts and ways to take care of one’s mental wellbeing in a safe peer community.

Key principles and approaches for the group activities are confidentiality, accessibility, resource orientation, anti-racism and intersectionality.

The groups are free of charge, closed and gather online for a specified period. The group activities are in Finnish.

How do LGBTIQA+ topics relate to my work? What is that minority stress thing? How can I make a change?

The goal of the QueerMieli project’s educational activities is to increase awareness among professionals within higher education and actives within the student associations, regarding minority stress and its impact on mental health. We want to increase the understanding regarding the diversity among students of gender, sexual orientation and relationship forms and regarding LGBTIQA+ students’ experiences of minority stress and its impact on well-being and study ability. By webinars and trainings, we want to offer tools to recognize structures that contribute to minority stress and to promote equality and the sense of belonging. The trainings are aimed at active members of the student associations, teaching and counselling staff at the universities and at professionals in the student health care. The training takes place primarily online.

Our training activities include open 30-minute webinars as well as target group-adapted longer training courses that last a morning or an afternoon. If your community is in need of training to promote the equality and mental health of LGBTIQA+ students, but would like a more tailored training, you are welcome to get in touch and we will see if we can arrange it!

The trainings are part of the STEA-funded project QueerMieli and thus free of charge for the participants.

If a three-hour training free of charge sounds too good to be true, or you cannot make that right now, get started with something more brief! Get yourself a cup of tea or coffee and join our webinar and get a clue on what would be good to know about LGBTIQA+ issues, if working among students. Should you get really inspired, welcome to join another webinar or sign up for one of the trainings!

After the webinar you may also stay online for a chat or for some questions.

Our training for personnel in higher education increases awareness of minority stress; discriminatory structures fueling it and its effects on students’ well-being. We will look into ways to promote inclusion and non-discrimination in teaching and student services.

The training aimed at student organizations focuses on how to take into account the diversity of students in terms of gender, sexual orientation and relationship forms. We will also learn about minority stress and its effects on well-being, as well as ways to promote inclusiveness in the planning of activities.

Organize trainings, events, discussions or social media campaigns with us!
We would be happy to co-operate on matters concerning LGBTIQA+ students and mental health, minority stress or LGBTIQA+ rights in general. Please contact us if you have an idea ready or otherwise wish to co-operate with us, let’s see what we could come up with!

Help us reduce minority stress experiences among LGBTIQA+ students!
During the spring of 2025, together with representatives of the higher education community and the Research Foundation for Studies and Education Otus, we will produce a description of the current situation of LGBTIQA+ students in Finland and set goals for promoting a more accessible and safe study environment. Here we will also be helped by the more than 600 responses we received to the survey, carried out in the autumn 2024!
Together, we want to collect good practices and develop new ways to change discriminatory structures and promote inclusive ways of working. Please get in touch if you want to help!