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Trauma Informed In health care, education and the workplace, being “trauma-informed” has become a popular aspiration. To be "trauma-informed" is to recognize the pervasiveness of trauma in the world and seek to be responsive to this unfortunate reality. It means becoming aware of trauma's many personal and societal consequences, anticipating how trauma survivors may respond to our words and actions, and doing our part to create a world that does not cause further harm. Even more, being trauma-informed means helping to create a world that can foster growth, resiliency, and healing as well. See: Trauma, Post-Traumatic Growth and Triggers. < Back to Glossary

Brave Space A brave space encourages constructive but often challenging dialogue. Recognising difference and holding each person accountable to do the work of sharing experiences and coming to new understandings – a feat that’s often hard, and typically uncomfortable. It is important we have these spaces, especially considering that the Queer community intersects with so many others, and we have so much to learn from one another. See: Courageous Communication. < Back to Glossary

BIPOC Stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour. Pronounced “bye-pock,” this is a term specific to the United States, intended to centre the experiences of Black and Indigenous groups and demonstrate solidarity between communities of colour. ​ < Back to Glossary

Hierarchy Hierarchy is a system in which people or things are placed in a series of levels with different importance, status, or influence. It is most often reflected in corporate organisations and establishmentarian government structures. The higher up a hierarchy structure we are, the more power, influence and privilege we usually hold. Recognising hierarchy (and by extension privilege) is the first step to dismantling systems of inequality, encouraging inclusion and positive change. See: Influence, Power, Positionality, Privilege and Progress. < Back to Glossary

Self-awareness Conscious knowledge of one's own thoughts, feelings and behaviours - how we are perceiving others, and how we are in turn being perceived. See: Reflection, Identity and Mental Health. < Back to Glossary

Same-sex A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. Same-sex marriage refers to the institutionalised recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries where same-sex marriage does not. ​ < Back to Glossary

Nature 1. Nature can generate many positive emotions, such as calmness, joy, and creativity and can facilitate concentration. Nature connectedness is also associated with lower levels of poor mental health, particularly lower depression and anxiety. 2. Nature can also refer to our genetics. It includes the genes we are born with and other hereditary factors that can influence the way that we develop from childhood through adulthood. ​ < Back to Glossary

Ethnicity and Race Ethnicity is a term used to describe a way of categorising people based on a range of different characteristics, ranging from the geographical region they are from, their faith/religion, as well as the language they speak, heritage and customs. Race is a term used to describe a way of categorising people based on various physical characteristics such as skin colour and ascribing social meaning and significance to that group. People’s perception of Race in society is heavily influenced by internalised biases - by how we are taught from a young age to perceive people of races different to our own, by society and the people around us. Equally, it is important to acknowledge the negative effects that racial prejudice and discrimination/racism has. We as allies should all work hard to educate ourselves to be aware of why and how other’s life experiences may be different to our own, and how this can impact the way that people move through the world. (See: Biracial/Multiracial and Racism) < Back to Glossary

Sexual Characteristics Our sex characteristics refer to the different aspects of our bodies that make up our sex in terms of biology and physiology. There are distinct types of sex characteristics, like our chromosome patterns and genes, hormone patterns, and our external/internal genitalia. Our primary sex characteristics are what we are born with. For many of us, our secondary sex characteristics are what emerge or change during puberty. ​ < Back to Glossary

Purpose Purpose is the cumulative effect of meaningful goals. Purpose is less tangible; we define purpose as a long-term aim or guiding principle based on meaning. It's the impact we want to have on the world. See: Growth, Personal Development and Self-actualisation. < Back to Glossary

Indigenous Indigenous peoples, also referred to as First peoples, First nations, Aboriginal peoples, Native peoples, Indigenous natives, or Autochthonous peoples (these terms are often capitalised when referring to specific indigenous peoples as ethnic groups, nations, and the members of these groups), are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original peoples. ​ < Back to Glossary

Biracial/Multiracial Biracial - Someone who’s biological parents are from two different racial groups. Multiracial - Someone who’s heritage originates from more than two racial groups. (See: Racism, Ethnicity and Race) < Back to Glossary

Coming out Coming out (of the closet) is a metaphor used to originally describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation or their gender identity. However it can infact be used to describe self-dislosure of any intentionally or unintentionally concealed stigmatised characteristics, for example relating to mental health or HIV status. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, 'coming out' is experienced variously as a psychological process or journey; a means toward feeling acceptance and pride instead of shame and social stigma. Many LGBTQ+ people reject the notion of 'coming out' as it can unfairly place the onus of others wrongful assumptions about sexual and gender identity onto the queer person rather than the assuming party. Some are now opting for the term 'letting in', as it gives the individual agency over what to disclose, to whom and when. ​ < Back to Glossary

Gender Dysphoria Gender dysphoria is the experience of distress or unease a person feels because their gender identity does not align with their biological sex. Gender dysphoria can be mild or severe and seriously impact a person's quality of life. People often transition or use gender-affirming practices to alleviate their gender dysphoria. ​ < Back to Glossary

Land Back Land Back is a campaign by Indigenous people in the United States and in Canada that seeks to re-establish Indigenous sovereignty - notably, the political and economic control of lands in what is now the United States and Canada to the peoples who have historically occupied them prior to colonization. See: Colonisation and Indigenous. < Back to Glossary

First Nation The First Nations definition is a term used to describe people indigenous to the North American continent that originated in Canada. Although Americans generally use the terms Native American or American Indian, First Nations remains the preferred term in Canada. ​ < Back to Glossary

Third Gender Third genders are social categories that exist in cultures which recognise genders outside of just men and women. The Mahu, Hijra and Fa'afafine are all examples of third genders. ​ < Back to Glossary

Woman Someone who identifies with womanhood. See: Gender Roles and Gender Identity. < Back to Glossary

Gender Attribution The act of assigning (or guessing) someone's gender, often by simply looking at them. Gender attribution is problematic because it can lead to misgendering people unintentionally because one can never know a person's gender identity by simply evaluating external factors. ​ < Back to Glossary

History LGBTQ history dates back to the first recorded instances of same-sex love and sexuality of ancient civilizations, involving the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender peoples and cultures around the world. What survives after many centuries of persecution (and colonisation) —resulting in shame, suppression, and secrecy—has only in more recent decades been pursued and interwoven into more mainstream historical narratives. See: Heritage. < Back to Glossary