As the fall semester comes to a close, many students are faced with the prospect of going home. Whether close by or on the other side of the country, returning home can present its own set of challenges, especially for queer students who may experience being misgendered, mistreated and misunderstood. No matter where home is, there are resources both near and far that can help students through winter break, J-term and beyond.

The Counseling and Health Services office at Hamline provides a number of resources that may be beneficial to not only queer students, but to everyone on campus. 

“[Counseling and Health Services] offers lots of sexual health and reproductive health services, provides STI testing, birth control, and conversations,” said Jen Vaupel, Director of Health Services. “My goal in health services is that we have a safe space for any person to come into the clinic, ask questions and get resources if we cannot provide the services they need.” 

She made clear the need for queer students to have a safe space and to be able to get the questions that they have answered. 

Family Tree Clinic is a Minneapolis based organization that offers a variety of health services. They work towards making their services more affordable and accessible for everyone. Some of their resources include birth control, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, STI and other testing and trans hormone care. 

 “We believe each individual person is deserving of not only high-quality and affordable services, but also of affirming, individualized, and respectful care,” the Family Tree Clinic website said. 

For more information, go to familytreeclinic.org or give them a call at 612-473-0800. 

Although this clinic is based in the Twin Cities, not every student resides in Minnesota. For those who live outside the state, look no further than the Trevor Project. 

The Trevor Project, founded in 1998, works as a resource to help queer individuals in a myriad of different areas, but mental health and suicide prevention in particular. Their mission is to “end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning young people,” which they do through their five key programs: Crisis Services, Peer Support, Research, Public Education and Advocacy. 

Their crisis and counselor lines are simply a call or text away, 24/7, at 1-866-488-7386.

It is important for not only queer individuals, but everyone to have a space where they can feel safe and loved. Although it can be difficult during this time in the year, using community resources to their full advantage may make the beast of winter break, J-term and the rest of the year easier to tame.