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What is HEY?
Healthy Equal Youth (HEY) is about supporting the health and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ young Victorians. The first of its kind in Australia, HEY brings together a network of partner organisations specialising in support and services for LGBTQIA+ young people.
HEY partners provide peer support, referral, community visibility, celebration and education. The vision of the HEY partners is that LGBTQIA+ young people in Victoria have their rights upheld, and are safe, empowered and celebrated.
Every year, Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic), in partnership with the Victorian Government, run the Healthy Equal Youth (HEY) Grants. Over 11 years, HEY Grants have supported over 123 organisations with more than $1.6 million of funding to improve LGBTQIA+ young people's mental health and wellbeing.
With years of lived experience, expertise, and evidence-based practice, the HEY Partners and Grants are supporting more LGBTIQA+ young people than ever. We are committed to supporting young people in their self-discovery and pride, to connecting them with each other and their community, and to improving their overall mental health and wellbeing.
HEY is proudly funded and supported by the Victorian Government.
HEY Partners
The HEY Partners are organisations that provide a network of inclusive spaces and programs for LGBTQIA+ young people across Victoria.
Learn more about the HEY partners
Youth Affairs Council Victoria
Youth Affairs Council Victoria is the peak body and leading policy advocate on young people's issues in Victoria.
Zoe Bell Gender Collective
Provides online support, referrals, recommendations and resources for the greater trans and gender diverse community in Victoria.
WayOut Cobaw
Based at Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health, WayOut promotes the rights, mental health and wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ young people in the Macedon Ranges.
WayOut Wodonga
WayOut Wodonga promotes the rights, health and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ young people in Albury Wodonga and surrounds.
Rainbow Network
Helping members provide safer, more inclusive services for young same sex-attracted, intersex, trans and gender diverse Victorians.
Safe Schools
Safe Schools is a formal and public commitment that schools make to create an inclusive and safe environment for their school community, including for LGBTQIA+ students, families and teachers.
Peninsula Pride
Peninsula Pride is queer–straight alliance community group led by headspace Frankston. Helping same sex attracted and gender diverse young people can feel safer and more included in society.
Rainbow Health Victoria
Rainbow Health Victoria is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ Victorians and the quality of care they receive.
Minus18
Australia's largest youth-led organisation for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans youth.
Gasp
The GASP project is Geelong’s safe and inclusive space for young people aged between 12-25.
Diversity Project
Aiming to create a safer, more inclusive and healthier community in the City of Greater Shepparton and beyond for young people who are LGBTQIA+.
Safe in the Southwest
The SAFE in the South West program is strengthening the capacity of South West Victorian community in supporting young people who identify same-sex attracted, sex and gender diverse.
Ballarat headspace
Ballarat headspace is now running Zaque – a safe space for LGBTIQ young people. Zaque is a group that aims to provide a safe and supportive space for LGBTIQA+ young people aged 12-25.
Headspace Bendigo Diversity
headspace Bendigo offers two diversity groups weekly for young people who identify as LGBTIQ+ and their friends and allies.
They provide a safe and inclusive space where young people can be themselves, meet others, have some fun and participate in community activities that celebrate diversity.
Parents of Gender Diverse Children (PGDC)
Parents of Gender Diverse Children works hard to give a voice to parents and those parenting transgender and gender diverse children.
Gippsland Lakes Complete Health
Gippsland Lakes Complete Health (GLCH) is an inclusive service provider to all members of the community, and consults with LGBTIQA+ consumers to improve their responsiveness to the needs of the LGBTIQA+ population.
La Trobe Community Health Service
Latrobe Community Health Service work with the community to provide safe and inclusive services to clients who identify as LGBTIQA+, and provide a safe and inclusive work environment for staff who identify as LGBTIQA+.
HEY Grants
HEY Grants are an annual small grant round that is available for projects and initiatives aimed at improving the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ young Victorians.
The categories are:
- Youth led projects: for LGBTIQA+ young people with innovative projects they know will support their LGBTIQA+ peers. A youth led application must be proposed and led by people who are under 25! (They can get people older than that to proofread and assist them).
- Social Connectedness projects: for services to expand or improve their support for LGBTIQA+ young people, and for targeted projects for LGBTIQA+ young people that will improve their mental health and wellbeing.
Round 12 HEY Grant recipients
Round 12 of the HEY Grants will provide $102,000 to 11 incredible projects and organisations across the state. The grants were selected by a panel of LGBTIQA+ community members, and prioritised new applicants who will address intersections and gaps in LGBTIQA+ services.
EACH Social and Community Health Yarra Ranges (Social Connectedness) - $10,000
The Rural Rainbows are peer led support groups for LGBTQIA+ young people aged 12-25 in the Yarra Ranges. Our aim is to increase the mental health and wellbeing of local LGBTQIA+ young people by providing safe and vibrant spaces for them in which to connect, have fun and be themselves.
More Than Melanin (Social Connectedness) - $10,000
Issue three of More than Melanin aims to examine life and mental health from a post-2020 understanding of the world through a satirical and comedic lens. It centres voices of youth from racially marginalised communities, especially the voices of queer people and women from these spaces.
Dandenong Youth Services (Social Connectedness) - $10,000
#Proud2BE is a community education campaign, co-designed with LGBTIQA+ culturally diverse young people. Content will be created using film/animation/stills to develop the campaign. The campaign will create community awareness and challenge discrimination, homophobia and transphobia. The use of #Proud2BE will encourage members of the community to be proud supporters/allies of LGBTIQA+ young people in Greater Dandenong.
We Eatin' Good (Youth-led) - $10,000
We Eatin' Good is a collaborative project that provides a platform and safe space for young QTBIPoC to explore the intersections of culture, queerness and identity through the universal language of food. We aim to uplift our community by producing a range of creative projects that showcase the talents of QTBIPoC on and off screen.
headspace Wonthaggi & Relationships Australia Victoria (Youth-led) - $10,000
headspace Wonthaggi will continue working with the Wonthaggi Union Community Arts Centre (WUCAC) to provide even more events that show LGBTIQA+ youth (and their families and friends) that they are not alone, and empower them to feel self-assured and secure within themselves. These events will be educational, informative and entertaining.
Brotherhood of Saint Laurence (Social Connectedness) - $4,900
This project will deliver a peer network for LGBTQIA+ young people (16-24 years) living at three EFY Foyers in Victoria (Broadmeadows, Glen Waverley, Shepparton). The group will create a supportive and fun space for homeless LGBTIQA+ young people with the aim of increasing social connectedness, sense of belonging and self-esteem.
The Mental Health Coach (Social Connectedness) - $10,000
The Mental Health Coach will deliver cost-free mental health first aid (MHFA) training to LGBTIQA+ young people across Victoria. Fee-paying adult workers who support this population will also attend. There will be an evaluation of this blended group MHFA training model. The project will also evaluate the viability/self-sustainability of this business model for metro and rural populations.
headspace Narre Warren (Social Connectedness) - $10,000
This project supports youth in the south-east of Melbourne to remove barriers and participate in opportunities they may not otherwise experience. Facilitated by lived experienced peer workers, they will assist LGBTQIA+ youth to grow community through social events, whilst providing consistent, accessible and safe spaces to enhance social connections and wellbeing.
Rainbow Alliance Stawell (Social Connectedness) - $10,000
Rainbow Alliance is a peer-led support group for LGBTQIA+ young people in Stawell and surrounds, that promotes local and state-wide opportunities for connection, support. celebration and advocacy, to ensure the positive mental health and wellbeing of our young people and to increase their scope of possibility.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council (Social Connectedness) - $10,000
Project Pride is a mental health and wellbeing and social connection event/activity comprised of two proposed outcomes: an LGBTIQA+ dance for young people in the Macedon Ranges (and central Victoria), and the creative co-design of a large scale video installation for projection at the LGBTIQA+ dance event.
Junction Skate The Y (Social Connectedness) - $7,864.70
The project will provide Junction Skate and BMX Park more opportunities for LGBTIQ participation via skateboarding, creating more opportunities for participation for female and LGBTIQ people in the community. The grant would help kick start a movement pushing for equality within the skateboarding world and the local community at Junction Skate and BMX Park. The project will increase participation by marginalised and female user groups, provide exposure, empower LGBTIQ people and run events.