The toolkit was created out of the need to educate, empower and provide additional resources to primary mental health and social care professionals, but also to LGBTI persons and their families. We divided the manual into two parts: the first, which provides an overview of the human rights and freedoms of LGBTI persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from a legal activist perspective offers steps to treat LGBTI persons, create a safe environment from prejudice, discrimination and violence, especially in cases of domestic violence and peer violence; another that offers expert guidelines for comprehensive psychotherapeutic, psychological, and other forms of specific support for LGBTI persons and their diverse identities, in search of ways to deal with the difficulties and challenges they face in society.

We want this publication to be a useful and valuable tool for capacity building and additional training of specialized institutions for mental health and social protection and civil society organizations that provide these services. Because mental health care is surrounded by stigma and prejudice, it is necessary to raise the awareness of the LGBTI community, professionals and the general public about the importance of maintaining one’s own well-being, mental health care and seeking the support of service providers. In this sense, we hope that the toolkit will contribute to the establishment of a sustainable system of providing psychosocial support to LGBTI persons from civil society organizations, public institutions and places where it has not been available so far.

Authors: Vladana Vasić, Marija Šarić, Zvjezdana Savić

Editor: Delila Hasanbegović Vukas

Published by: Sarajevo Open Centre, 2021

Publication in B/C/S language is available here.

For more information on the toolkit, training sessions and the whole project of regionalising LGBTI inclusive psychosocial support and mental health services in BiH you can contact the programme coordinator Delila Hasanbegović Vukas via email [email protected].