The Nature and Impact of Informal Mental Health Support in an LGBTQ Context: Exploring Peer Roles and Their Challenges

BACKGROUND: Research shows that LGBTQ communities experience high levels of suicidality and mental ill health. They also face significant barriers to accessing adequate mental health treatment in service settings. In response to these factors, it is likely that LGBTQ community members turn to their peers for informal mental health-related support. Such support, however, is largely undefined, the extent of it poorly understood and its impacts on those who perform it underexplored. METHODS: We explored the nature and impact of informal mental health-related support provided by peers in LGBTQ communities in Melbourne, Australia. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 25 LGBTQ adults in 2020, we explored how and why peers provided mental health support to friends, partners, housemates and even strangers and the impact this had on them. RESULTS: We found that participants performed support roles as extensions of their existing relationships. We demonstrate that the support roles of the safe friend, housemate and partner, among others, represent everyday relationships stretched—even to breaking point—to incorporate informal mental health support. Each of these support roles is distinct, but they can all potentially result in similar impacts on those performing them. One of the more significant of these is burnout. CONCLUSIONS: LGBTQ community members face a diverse range of challenges when they support peers with their mental health. Informal peer-support roles are a significant responsibility for those performing them. LGBTQ community members stepping up to support others should be better supported to help manage their roles and the impacts of performing them. POLICY IMPLICATIONS: Findings can contribute to policy that not only addresses high levels of mental ill health in LGBTQ communities, but also seeks to help peers in support roles to prevent them from being negatively impacted.