Katherine McMahon

I’m the Development Worker for the LGBT Age Capacity Building Project, at LGBT Health and Wellbeing. I support organisations and professionals who work with older people, to become more welcoming and inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. I’m also a performance poet, and I’m really interested in the way poetry and other creative arts can create social change through generating empathy and understanding.

A key part of the LGBT Age Capacity Building Project is ensuring that older LGBT people are part of the conversation, and one way I do that is to facilitate creative work which can then become part of resources and training – you can take a look at the 'Top Tips' resource. I also work with volunteers who are part of the community or have experience of the issues to deliver training together. In 2014, in my previous job with LGBT Health’s mental health project, I led on a collaborative creative writing project, which produced Naked Among Thistles – an anthology which aims to fight stigma and discrimination by creating a better understanding of some of the particular issues around mental health which LGBT people experience.

Timelines and stories

A big part of my job is running training sessions about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identities for staff who work in older peoples’ services.

Creative consultations

I work for LGBT Health and Wellbeing, supporting services working with older people to become more inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This is a valuable opportunity to affect change – and I want it to be the change that older LGBT people actually want to see!