Waukesha Area LGBTQIA+ Focused Health Care Resources
Youth Focused Resources
LGBTQIA+ youth need love and support more than ever! Here are some resources to get you started!
Safety and Connection
Safe House for LGBTQIA+ Youth
SAFE HOUSE
Our safe house youth group provides a safe and welcoming place for LGBTQ+ teens and their allies to gather. This group meets twice per month for games, food and more. During the week “drop in” times are offered for students to have a quiet space to work on their homework. Interested? Contact Pastor Jim.
Jim Langreder
First Congregational Church UCC Hartland
111 Church Street, Hartland, WI 53029
CBS58 Report
Natalie’s Everyday Heroes: Hartland church opens its doors to LGBTQ+ teens
Jefferson County Youth Shelter
About Safe Place
Safe Place is a national youth outreach program that educates thousands of young people every year. Safe Place initiative involves the whole community to provide safe havens and resources for youth in crisis. Safe Place creates a network of “Safe Place locations” – youth friendly businesses, schools, libraries, YMCAs and other appropriate public buildings that display the distinctive yellow and black Safe Place sign. These Safe Place sites extend the doors of the youth emergency shelter or youth service agency throughout the community. Youth are easily able to access immediate help wherever they are.
Link below is a map of all our Safe Place sites:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1VIpWWGk1ssIwBPrpRU15Cnqh1Kbw8WQ&usp=sharing
Safe Place Coordinator: Darrell Amburgey
How to Contact
Youth in crisis can text the word SAFE and their current location to the number 44357 and they will receive an address of the nearest Safe Place site and contact number for the local youth shelter. In cities that do not have a Safe Place program, the youth will receive the name and number of the youth shelter or, if there is no local shelter, the National Runaway Switchboard Hotline Number (1-800-RUNAWAY).
Pathfinders
Pathfinders brings safety, hope and healing to youth in crisis in the Greater Milwaukee area. Our youth are facing interconnected issues such as homelessness, sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, mental health challenges and many other forms of trauma.
The vast majority of youth we serve come from marginalized communities where these issues happen disproportionately. At Pathfinders, we often serve those who face difficulties accessing services due to barriers and program restrictions.
5,177 Youth and young adults accessed Pathfinders services in 2023, including one-on-one interactions with our street outreach team.
Of that number:
- 849 received more intensive case management, counseling, housing, shelter, sexual exploitation and trafficking advocacy and basic needs support services.
- 99% youth with low or extremely low income.
- 89% youth of color.
- 26% LGBTQ+ youth (of those who felt comfortable reporting their sexual orientation and/or gender identity).
Youth Shelter
1614 E. Kane Pl., Milwaukee, WI 53202
Bus Routes: Green Line, Gold Line
414.271.1560 (if our landline is down, call 414.852.1724)
Main Office & Southeastern Education Center
4200 N. Holton St. Suite 400, Milwaukee, WI 53212
Bus Routes 14 & 15, Red Line
Email
info@pathfindersmke.org
Phone
414.964.2565
In Crisis? Click here.
CCS Referrals
The PRISM Program
About
The PRISM Program is a mental wellness resource for LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin. We’re a team of queer and/or trans Certified Peer Specialists trained to use our lived experiences with mental health and substance use struggles to support others in their recovery journey. PRISM stands for Peer Recovery in Supportive Mutuality. We see that connection based on community and solidarity has transformative power, similar to the way a prism refracts light to create a beautiful rainbow.
Currently, we offer free one-on-one support through our warmline as well as online and in-person support groups. We’re hoping to offer in-person groups in Milwaukee and Madison soon!
Contact Information
Call or text the Warmline at 414-336-7974
If you can’t get through, please call back or send a text message!
Email us at prism@mhawisconsin.org
Send us a direct message on Facebook or Instagram!
Sign up for our quarterly newsletter for announcements and updates!
Sponsored by Mental Health America of Wisconsin
The Trevor Project
The Trevor Project is the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit organization for LGBTQ+ young people. We provide information & support to LGBTQ+ young people 24/7, all year round.
Contact Us
If you are an LGBTQ+ young person in need of support, reach out to one of our crisis counselors, available 24/7. If you’d like to reach out to our team for another purpose, please explore the options below.
Q Chat Space
Q Chat Space’s goal is to help LGBTQ+ and questioning teens (13 to 19 years old) find community and connect with peers in a supportive environment that encourages them to feel pride in their identities & increases their mental well-being, all of which is too often missing from their lives! We achieve this goal by providing live, chat-based support groups that are facilitated by trained staff/volunteers from LGBTQ+ centers across the United States. Check our chat schedule to learn more about the upcoming chat topics and times!
Q Chat Space is a project of Center Link in collaboration with PFLAG and Planned Parenthood.
Education/School Resources
Autumn Hill Academy
We’re developing Autumn Hill Academy, a free public charter school in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, to provide a supportive, inclusive environment where students are empowered to live authentically and achieve their full potential.
Research shows not enough is being done to support the overall well-being of teens. In Waukesha County, 23 percent of high school students are bullied, 50 percent experience anxiety and 30 percent suffer depression. Autumn Hill Academy will provide a diverse and accepting learning environment embracing everyone to help students thrive socially, emotionally and academically.
The school will open in the fall of 2025 with grades 6-10 and expand to grades 6-12 over the first two years.
Please consider joining us! Volunteer opportunities are currently available on our Community Engagement Committee, Fundraising Committee, Facilities Committee and School Operations Committee. Contact us today!
Genesee Lake School
Genesee Lake School is an employee-owned company specializing in treatment for students ages 7 to 21 who have been diagnosed with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability are the primary diagnoses of the students who attend our school, and many of our students have secondary or coexisting diagnoses for mental health needs.
MyPath LGBTQ+ Pathfinders
Eden Damrow
Genesee Lake School Recruiter, mypathcompanies.com
Email
eden.damrow@mypathcompanies.com
Phone
(262) 468-0053
Address
36100 Genesee Lake Rd
Oconomowoc, WI 53066-9201
GSAFE Creating Just Schools for LGBTQ+ Youth
Mission Statement
GSAFE creates just schools for LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin. We do this by:
- Developing the leadership of LGBTQ+ youth,
- Supporting Gay-Straight Alliances,
- Training educators,
- Advancing educational justice, and
- Deepening racial, gender, trans, and social justice.
Vision Statement
GSAFE envisions school communities where all LGBTQ youth and students thrive.
Values Statement
GSAFE values integrity, honesty, openness, and authenticity. We are committed to youth leadership, anti-racism, and social justice and recognize we are all life-long learners and teachers. We hold ourselves accountable to the youth we serve as well as each other, our board, funders, partner organizations, and the broader community by honoring our commitments and continuously reflecting on and improving our work. We dig deep, think creatively, take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing our vision become a reality. We are driven by a vision of a world free of oppression based on gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, and other identities and strive to model the world we want to exist through our everyday actions.
Address
122 E. Olin Ave., Suite 100
Madison, WI 53713
Phone
608-661-4141
Contact GSAFE WI: https://gsafewi.org/about-us/contact-us/
GLSEN
Creating a Better World for LGBTQ+ Students
As GLSEN was founded by a group of teachers in 1990, we knew that educators play key roles in creating affirming learning environments for LGBTQ+ youth. But as well as activating supportive educators, we believe in centering and uplifting student-led movements, which have powered initiatives like the Day of Silence, Ally Week, and more.
We conduct extensive and original research to inform our evidence-based solutions for K-12 education.
We author developmentally appropriate resources for educators to use throughout their school community.
We advise on, advocate for, and research comprehensive policies designed to protect LGBTQ+ students as well as students of marginalized identities. We’ve brought record support to the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act and fought discriminatory legislation in over 15 states.
We coordinate a network of 43 chapters in 30 states across the nation, to ensure that we have access to schools and districts across the country to reach every student.
We empower students to affect change by supporting student-led efforts to positively impact their own schools and local communities, and have thousands of registered GSAs nationwide.
Today, after over 25 years of leading the movement, GLSEN’s national network is more than 1.5 million strong, with students, families, educators, and education advocates working to create safe schools. More than 500,000 GLSEN resources are downloaded by students and educators each year.
Every day GLSEN works to ensure that LGBTQ+ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment. Together, we can transform our nation’s K-12 schools into the safe and affirming environment all youth deserve.
Check out these pages for more resources!
Local LGBTQIA+ and Ally Organizations