Conference Agenda

This project explores the transformative possibilities of queer kinship, radical love, and collective healing through a feminist, decolonial lens, attending to relational and societal interdependencies in challenging times. Using autohistoria-teoría, I explore fragments of grief, desire, and queer becoming through dreams, memories, relationships, and reflections on therapeutic practice, attending to how connection, care, and meaning unfold in relational and collective contexts. Inspired by the metaphor of lighthouses, figures and practices that illuminate paths,I trace how grief, desire, and healing emerge across personal, relational, and communal spaces, offering alternative ways of being, relating, and caring.

Engaging with feminist and queer scholars such as Anzaldúa, Lorde, hooks, Ahmed, and Muñoz, I examine the relational, collective, and embodied dimensions of knowledge and transformation, highlighting queer kinship as a site of resistance that reimagines intimacy, eroticism, community, and public life. Dreams, memories, and family histories blur the boundaries between the real and imagined, generating insights into emotional labor, longing, and resilience within collective processes. By weaving together fragments of experience, reflection, and relational practice, this work challenges normative narratives of knowledge production and embodies possibilities for transformative, collaborative, and community-centered inquiry.

Positioned at the intersection of personal, social, and more-than-human worlds, this research contributes to polyphonic dialogue, relational understanding, and collaborative practices in qualitative inquiry. It attends to the potentials of collective resilience, relational creativity, and radical care in addressing the pressing social, cultural, and political challenges of our times, offering a “lighthouse” for those navigating paths of healing, resistance, and queer becoming.

The LGBTQ+ community is often treated as a unified group, yet -upon closer inspection- the conflicts and discrepancies within begin to show. This paper aims to examine the LGBTQ+ community, not as a cohesive total, but as a diverse group of people struggling to fit under the same umbrella despite their ever-growing amount of differences. The question that this paper attempts to answer is whether LGBTQ+ individuals in Greece feel included within the community and, if not, figure out possible reasons behind their detachment. 20 members of the LGBTQ+ community participated in semi-structured interviews, which were subsequently analyzed via Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), resulting in seven fundamental themes that influence the current state of the community; contested identity, the importance of physical appearance, political correctness, elitism, toxicity, labelling and the stance towards the heterosexual population. Despite those issues, however, a deeper emotional connection to the community -or the idea of one- seems to persevere.

LGBTQ+ inclusive Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is possibly the most controversial and politicised aspect of the primary school curriculum in England; policies are highly contested and draw much attention from different publics. RSE is essential for supporting the health and safety of children and young people (UNESCO, 2018). In 2020, compulsory Relationships Education required primary schools to teach LGBTQ+ content (DfE, 2019). However, guidance is deliberately non-prescriptive which gives schools significant power to decide which topics will be covered, how it will be taught and at what age. Further guidance is set to come into effect September 2026 which further erases LGBTQ+ identities through its contradictions creating multiple loopholes not to teach this content. Current policy direction does not prioritise what matters to children and young people but instead is focused on adults’ rights to police access to knowledge and participation (Neary, 2023; Atkinson et al., 2023). Inspired by feminist new materialist and other postfoundational theories in educational research, this presentation follows what happens when a group of LGBTQ+ young people re-imagine LGBTQ+ inclusive RSE in English primary schools through a series of co-constructed art-based workshops. Harnessing the AGENDA (www. agendaonline.co.uk) online resource, what matters within LGBTQ+ inclusive RSE is written in jars, hung up on green and red paper plates, illuminated on a runway for change, and flown on rights kites. We explore how creative pARTicipatory methodologies open up space for difficult, complex and sensitive experiences to be expressed through creative modalities and how these help us to come to sense and know differently. By the time of this conference, I will have undertaken these art-based workshops as part of my PhD project. I will outline my methodology and give reflections.

Immigrant, refugee, ethnocultural, and racialized (IRER) as well as LGBTQIA+ communities experience compounded barriers in accessing mainstream support services, particularly suicide prevention and crisis lines. This presentation compares two Canadian pilot studies that explore equity-focused crisis intervention for marginalized populations: LGBTQIA+ individuals and IRER communities. Both studies employed qualitative phenomenological approaches, conducting semi-structured interviews with crisis responders to examine current practices, challenges, and recommendations for gender and sexual as well as culturally affirming care. Five stakeholders who work with IRER individuals and five crisis responders supporting LGBTQIA+ individuals were interviewed.

Responders’ working with LGBTQIA+ individuals varied in level of confidence in supporting sexual and gender minority (SGM) callers, revealing gaps in training, discomfort with identity disclosure, and systemic limitations in affirming care. Responders emphasized the need for LGBTQIA+ specific services, intersectional training, and organizational support to improve therapeutic outcomes.

The IRER study identifies challenges such as language limitations, institutional mistrust, and fear of police involvement. Responders and stakeholders noted the inadequacy of Western crisis models in addressing diverse ways IRER individuals may view mental health and distress. This study emphasizes the importance of culturally responsive tools, racialized staff, and community partnerships.

Together, these studies highlight the urgent need for crisis systems to move beyond Westernized, generalized models of care. Findings suggest that intersectional, equity-based training, culturally attuned safety planning, and systemic changes are required to better meet the needs of equity-deserving populations. This comparative analysis shares actionable insights to enhance inclusivity and responsiveness in crisis intervention services.

Background: The sexual and gender minority (SGM) community has a longstanding disproportionate rate of suicidality and mental health crises. Despite some crisis response agencies incorporation of LGBTQIA+ allyship training into practice, the persistent high rates of suicidality and mental health crises among the SGM community suggests a disconnect between crisis service provision and LGBTQIA+ community needs.

Aim: The objective of this presentation is to identify the gaps and create tangible recommendations to increase crisis service effectiveness for the LGBTQIA+ community. This presentation aligns with the ECQI 2026 theme by sharing findings from collaborative inquiry to transform crisis response.

Methodology: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 crisis responders and 16 LGBTQIA+ community members. SGM community members had the opportunity to complete a mixed methods questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis informed by Gender Theory, Queer Theory, and Intersectionality.

Results: Expected themes include the need to increase LGBTQ+ affirming service provision, recommended changes in training for responders and agency systems, and suggestions in ways to decrease access barriers.

Significance: A comparison between crisis responders' reflections on the provision of care to SGM communities and LGBTQIA+ communities experiences receiving crisis services offers a rich and nuanced understanding of the disconnect between service provision and community needs. Synthesizing recommendations from crisis service providers and LGBTQIA+ community members presents a unique opportunity to formulate tangible and actionable recommendations that are community-centered and respond to the communities' intersectional needs. Highlighting the disconnect and recommendations creates the opportunity to develop innovative and dynamic training which can be implemented and concretely enhance crisis service provision for LGBTQIA+ community members. This study contributes to the field by demonstrating how qualitative inquiry can highlight systemic gaps, enhance marginalized voices, and inform crisis response through community engagement.