Build resilience and explore your identity
For LGBTQ+ people, there are many unique experiences and additional challenges in life that can be difficult to move through. Designed to foster growth and resilience, our personal development courses at Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre offer a safe space for you to explore your identity, develop coping skills, and enhance your overall wellbeing in your daily life.
This course is not currently scheduled. We will let people know once the personal development courses are rescheduled.
Through self-reflection, personal development is looking inward and focusing on ways to embrace your true self and create an authentic and fuller life firmly centred around your needs and aspirations.
The 6-week personal development course will provide a safe and supporting space for you to connect, explore, and affirm your true identity and your needs. The course has been designed to increase your self-awareness, your self-esteem, your self-love, and your interpersonal skills with the view for you to make meaning amidst challenges, return to wholeness, and reclaim the life that has always been meant for you.
- Self-awareness: thinking about yourself
- Health and wellness: taking care of yourself
- Assertiveness: thinking for yoursel
- Mind and body connection
- Sexuality, gender, and relationship diversity
- Sex, connection, and relationship
- Belonging: being part of a community
Course Facilitators
Our two amazing course facilitators are Dil Wickremasinghe and Anne Marie Toole from Insight Matters, our next-door neighbours. Insight Matters is a counselling, psychotherapy, and wellness centre that has inclusion at its heart.
Dil Wickremasinghe (she/ they
Dil is an IACP pre-accredited Psychotherapist and Counsellor. Dil works with individuals online and face to face, nationally and internationally and has a special interest in intersectionality, gender and sexual diversities and trauma-informed practice. She works with those identifying as LGBTQI+, and those in same-sex and non-traditional relationships. Dil is currently attending specialist training in Gender Sex Relationship Diversity and Queer Affirming Sexology and Psychosexual Psychotherapy. She works with adults and practices per the guidelines and Code of Ethics of the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP).
Anne Marie Toole (she/ her)
Anne Marie is an IACP accredited Psychotherapist and Counsellor. She initially trained in Psychology and Addiction in 2006 and completed a four-year degree in counselling and psychotherapy. In December 2023, Anne Marie will complete her qualification in clinical supervision. Anne Marie works with individuals, couples and families and has a special interest in gender and sexual diversities. She works with those identifying as LGBTQI+, and those in same-sex and non-traditional relationships. She has specialised training in the areas of Trauma Informed Practice, Attachment and Psychosexual therapy.
This project is financially supported by:
GBTQ+ Men's Personal Development Course
This course is not currently scheduled. We will let people know once the personal development courses are rescheduled.
Embark on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment with our 6-week personal development course tailored specifically for GBTQ+ men. This transformative course offers a supportive environment where you can explore and embrace your authentic self while developing essential life skills and nurturing meaningful connections.
The following themes are explored in this course:
- Embracing your sexuality with pride and authenticity.
- Developing communication skills to cultivate deeper connections with others.
- Building your self-confidence and self-worth.
- Understanding your emotions and learning healthy ways to manage them.
- Exploring the dynamics of healthy relationships and supportive bonds.
- Improving your physical, mental, and emotional health & wellbeing.
This project is financially supported by:
Queer and Here
This course is is currently fully booked. Visit this website for more information.
Queer and Here is a personal development course for LGBTQ+ refugees and people seeking protection. The course offers a series of ten workshops that address LGBTQ+ migrant seclusion, promote self-empowerment, and covers social, societal, and personal aspects of the intersectional issues commonly facing LGBTQ+ migrant populations. Participants will be left with enhanced knowledge and capacity to access social and community services.
The course is free of charge and designed for adult participants. It is limited to 15 people. While we understand that because of external circumstances a commitment to attend all five workshops may be difficult, we do ask potential participants to commit to attending the five days if possible.
Queer and Here is offered by the Irish Refugee Integration Network (IRIN) and Expressions, Research, Orientations: Sexuality Studies (EROSS) at Dublin City University (DCU), supported by Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre.
To register, please contact Jean-Philippe by email at jean-philippe.imbert@dcu.ie.
Course Facilitators
Dr. David Carroll (he/him)
David has recently completed an IRC-funded PhD on 80s music and queer identities, and works on multiple intersections of queer sexualities and popular culture. He is an experienced Social Justice expert with a demonstrated history of working in various clinical, health care and NGO industries.
Jean-Philippe Imbert (he/him)
Jean-Philippe lectures in Comparative Literature and Sexuality Studies. He works on queer literary and aesthetic representations of Mexican, MENA and French 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on the relationship between sexuality, gender and artivism. He also volunteers extensively with LGBT Asylum Seekers and Refugees in France.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our personal development courses are not currently available year-round. Please check back again soon.
