OOGACHAGA is a community-based counselling, support and personal development agency working with LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) individuals, couples and families in Singapore.
We agree with Mr Leo Hee Khian that it is important that as a society, we provide a loving and supportive environment for LGBTQ individuals, and ensure they are not bullied or discriminated against ("Distinguish between helping gays and supporting an agenda"; yesterday).
Since 1999, we have been running programmes and services for the LGBTQ community, starting with a support group for young gay and bisexual men. The following year, in response to an expressed service need from the community, a team of trained professionals came together to offer voluntary face-to-face counselling services for LGBTQ-identified persons.
Over the past 15 years, this team has grown to comprise full-time staff and volunteer counsellors, who hold professional qualifications in counselling, social work or psychology, and include those registered with the Social Work Accreditation and Advisory Board, and Singapore Association for Counselling.
Last year, we conducted more than 250 face-to-face counselling sessions with clients from diverse sexual orientations and gender identities and their loved ones. We complement this with our volunteer-run hotline, e-mail and WhatsApp counselling services.
Our professional counsellors adopt evidence-based therapeutic models, and seek consultation with industry-recognised practitioners.
This, however, excludes reparative and conversion therapies that try to "turn gay people straight", because this has been widely discredited by various professional bodies around the world, due to the documented harm it has caused, as well as a lack of scientific evidence for its effectiveness.
In our years of experience, one of the things we have found effective in working with clients, especially youth, is adopting a community engagement and development model, an approach that is well documented in the professional literature. This includes engaging and working with LGBTQ youth in their own environment and fostering peer-led initiatives.
Thus, we wholly support the efforts made by LGBTQ youth in forming various groups and networks in Singapore.
Bryan Choong
Executive Director
Oogachaga
