Cara-Friend in Northern Ireland#
Cara-Friend has worked with Northern Ireland's LGBTQIA+ community since 1974 and has been a registered charity there since 2017. Its base is the Belfast LGBTQI+ Centre on Waring Street. Most of what it does today is for young people: LGBTQIA+ youth groups, trans-specific youth services, one-to-one support and a mental health and mindfulness project. It also runs inclusive charters and awareness training for schools and businesses, community events and a heritage project. It says all of its services are confidential.
Groups for 12 to 25 year olds#
Its youth groups are for anyone aged 12 to 25 who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, queer or questioning. They are peer-led, with young LGBTQIA+ people as volunteer leaders. Cara-Friend runs its own group in Belfast, meeting three evenings a week, and supports a regional network of inclusive youth groups across Northern Ireland; to find the nearest, you email its admin team.
One-to-one support#
For a young person who would rather talk alone, one-to-one support is with an experienced LGBTQIA+ youth worker. The young person can ask, and so can their school, a professional working with them, or a parent or carer. Sessions can be online, by phone, by message or face to face, and are confidential unless someone is at risk. Cara-Friend is clear that this is not counselling; it is practical, person-centred support.
Parents and guardians can ask for family support by email, and its resources page has a parents and carers guide and a coming out guide. Its home page also links a page for Switchboard NI, which did not load on 26 October 2026.
Names in Northern Ireland#
Cara-Friend publishes nothing on changing a name. For a young person who wants to, these are the points that matter in Northern Ireland:
- From your 16th birthday you can draw up your own deed poll, and one signed in Northern Ireland is used in the same way as anywhere else in the UK.
- Under 16, the people with parental responsibility normally need to agree, or a court decides. Changing a child's name in Northern Ireland explains the routes there.
- Northern Ireland also has its own record of a change of name, kept by the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, for people born or adopted there. Changing your name in Northern Ireland compares it with a deed poll.
For older or more specialist help, The Rainbow Project has a page on Northern Ireland name changes, and TransgenderNI runs the Belfast Trans Resource Centre.
Out of hours#
Cara-Friend's pages point anyone distressed out of hours to Lifeline, Northern Ireland's crisis line, which is open around the clock. Its own team works office hours, and email is the main way in.
This page describes what Cara-Friend publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Cara-Friend has not reviewed it, and listing it here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
