Huge Congratulations to Our Own Gemma Kelly! Cara-Friend is incredibly proud to congratulate Gemma Kelly on winning the Motivation Award at this year’s GNI Awards! Gemma’s passion, commitment, and unwavering dedication to our community are truly inspiring. Gemma, we’re all so proud of you!

Cara-Friend invites you to this free online Volunteer Management training session. Delivered by NICVA, this is part of our LGBTQIA+ Capacity Building Project to nurture capabilities within LGBTQIA+ community groups. For the link to the training, contact: [email protected]

Cara-Friend staff had a fantastic time tonight at the @rainbowrefugeesni Halloween meet up! 🎃

Cara-Friend was delighted to attend the launch of a new research document into LGBTQIA+ experiences of domestic violence and abuse. This research will help inform public policy, and proves the need for adequate funding for the LGBTQIA+ sector to provide support for survivors.

As part of this year’s Belfast Pride celebrations, we were proud to host the Cara-Friend Showcase on Tuesday 23 July at Ulster University – a wonderful afternoon celebrating 51 years of vital work by @cara-friend.bsky.social supporting the LGBTQIA+ community in Northern Ireland. #Pride2025

Cara-Friend Pre-Pride Party! 🏳️‍🌈 We have a fantastic night with some amazing performances from Last Resort, Atlas, and Deadly Nightshade! A special shout-out to all of our wonderful volunteers and service users, our space would not be nearly as special without you! Happy Pride!

The Cara-Friend team has a fantastic showcase yesterday where we were able to talk about the fantastic work that our staff and volunteers do! Many thanks to @ulsteruni.bsky.social for hosting us, and to the fantastic Emer Maguire for her performance!

Congratulations to Pinsent Masons on winning the Pride Ally Business Award at Belfast Pride Awards 2025! Cara-Friend were proud to sponsor this award, and have our own Niall Crossey present it on the night. A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone nominated for your support to our community!

Make sure you don't miss out! Tickets are still available for our first ever Cara-Friend showcase this Wednesday ft. a performance by the wonderful Emer Maguire! Get your free tickets here!🔗https://tinyurl.com/4965e4v8

Interested in volunteering with Cara-Friend? This online session at 2pm on 24 July has all the information you need to get involved! From youth services, business training, and event management, we have so many opportunities for you to get involved with helping us deliver our services!

The hugely successful 'Founding Cara-Friend' exhibition will be hosted by the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland for the month of July! This exhibition features a selection of portraits and stories of some of the volunteers who worked to establish Cara-Friend in the 1970s and 1980s!

Please be advised that our offices will be closed from the 9th to 16th July inclusive! We look forward to seeing you again on the 17th!

Ready to quiet the chaos and find some inner peace? Join our online mindfulness session where stress takes a seat, resilience rises, and self-love steals the show 💖🧘 All identities and experiences are welcome! Monday 21 July 2025 | 19:00 on Zoom. Please contact [email protected] for a link!

Thrilled to present a re-run of our Educating the Educators LGBTQIA+ Awareness Training for Belfast Pride Festival! Want to learn more about the LGBTQIA+ community and promote inclusion for all? E-mail our Education and Training Officer, Gemma ([email protected]), for more information!

We are seeking to recruit a Community Engagement Officer to join our team! This post will have a key role in the Belfast LGBTQIA+ Community Engagement Project, funded by #PEACEPLUS, in partnership with The Rainbow Project and HereNI. For an application pack, please contact: [email protected]!

Join Cara-Friend on 23 July for our first ever Showcase event! We'll be looking at the essential work of Cara-Friend, and it'll be a great opportunity to learn about how to get involved! There'll also be a special guest appearance by Emer Maguire! Free tickets available here: tinyurl.com/4965e4v8!

Cara-Friend team members were delighted to attend the unveiling of a new LGBTQIA+ stained glass window today at Belfast City Hall.

Yesterday, Cara-Friend's Business Engagement & Training Manager gave two LGBTQIA+ Awareness Training sessions to NIE Networks. The training focused on understanding LGBTQIA+ terminology, factors impacting the community, developing professional practice, allyship, & creating an inclusive workplace.

Upcoming LGBTQIA+ Intergenerational Project hosted by Perfectly Prideful, part of the Cara-Friend Regional Youth Network. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lgbtqia-intergenerational-event-tickets-1257983916759?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_campaign=postpublish&utm_medium=sparkpost&utm_source=email

Cara-Friend’s Education and Training Officer, Gemma, attended RCity’s Tackling Hate Crime Event in the Shankill Spectrum Centre last night. She enjoyed chatting to many young people about respect, inclusion, diversity and kindness.