From April 2025 to May 2026, Thessaloniki Pride implemented the project Rainbow Bridges – Bridging the Gaps: SOGIESC-responsive Career Guidance for LGBTQIA+ Youth, an initiative carried out in partnership with the PAL Network and co-funded by the Erasmus+ program. The project’s goal was to strengthen SOGIESC-inclusive career counselling through the development of tools, educational materials, and practices that address the real needs and lived experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Rainbow Bridges was designed as a transnational initiative for knowledge exchange and skills development for youth workers, career counsellors, and organisations working with young people. Through field research, focus groups, mapping of best practices, and collaborative development of training materials, the project identified the structural barriers that LGBTQI+ individuals face in accessing career counselling and employment services. At the same time, it created tools and educational initiatives that promote safer and more inclusive work and support environments for young people.
As part of the project, field research and mapping were conducted, along with online workshops, and ultimately an educational handbook on career counselling was produced that addresses the needs of everyone, including LGBTQ+ youth, tackling workplace discrimination, addressing human rights, and the creation of safer and more inclusive support and work environments. All project tools and outputs were designed to be freely accessible and usable by organisations and professionals in the field.
Through its participation in Rainbow Bridges, Thessaloniki Pride sought to make a meaningful contribution to the creation of career counselling services that promote equality, safety, and visibility for LGBTQI+ youth, while strengthening collaboration between youth organisations and support agencies at the European level.
Useful Material
- Online Toolkit / Training Handbook — [Link 1]
- Newsletter #1 — [Link 2]
- Newsletter #2 — [Link 3]