LGBTIQA+ inclusion is (also) about language!

Listening services, guidance and tutoring centers are present in all European countries, often within educational settings, healthcare services, and non-profit organizations. These are places dedicated to preventing dropout and addressing deviance and addiction, often serving as the first space for dialogue with children, adolescents, and young adults, as well as with parents, families, and other community actors. They are places where people talk, connect, and help others, facilitating their growth through various tools: from counseling to informal mentoring, from psychology to socio-educational activities.

However, how much attention is dedicated—particularly in the curricula that prepare counselors, psychologists, or tutors—to certain topics, such as SOGIESC ones (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sexual characteristics)? And not only to sector-specific and technical skills, but more to those transversal, civic, and cultural competencies? The ones that can, for example, improve how we speak, how we address others, and how we interpret reality. Unfortunately, not much.

If we add the fact that our cultural conditions are rapidly changing, that identities, relationships, and people transform day by day, it becomes clear that there is a need for new words, new ideas, and new cultural foundations to truly include those in front of us, especially when our work involves facilitating, advising, and guiding growth and well-being.

Pitch Perfect, therefore, primarily supports and strengthens the linguistic and communication skills of psychologists, tutors, and counselors on LGBTIQA+ issues, exploring the voices and needs related to identity and sexuality that increasingly emerge in dialogue with adolescents and families, but that rarely find an adequate foundation in the training of counselors and tutors.

One important theme of Pitch Perfect, alongside language, is visibility: communication isn't only through words but also through images, non-verbal cues, and everything we see and perceive. For this reason, Pitch Perfect also aims to highlight the positive impact that images and creativity can have, serving as a powerful tool for expressing oneself freely and being recognized for who one is, while advocating for one's rights. This goal will be achieved in collaboration with our project partner, the Dutch foundation Stichting Art. 1, which has been working for years to promote the visibility and inclusion of LGBTIQA+ people through media and the arts.

Playing to Include

And what about play? The final part of Pitch Perfect—though by no means the least important—is the creation of a set of illustrated playing cards inspired by board game culture, digital art, and online artivism. Being inclusive means not only equipping oneself as an individual, learning, and, for example, enhancing and improving one's language and communication skills. It also means, concretely, making physical settings, workplaces, and spaces more inclusive—places where, every day, counselors, psychologists, and tutors welcome, guide, and support young people, disoriented families, and adults in difficult situations.

Why not do it with a visual sign? With a playful object to browse and discuss together? With a dynamic and narrative object that, through its mere presence, will signal even to the most reluctant individuals that they are in a consciously friendly and inclusive space?

Pitch Perfect will produce:

-A training booklet for counselors, psychologists, and tutors, which will be available for free download in Italian, English, and Dutch.
-A blended learning course, to be delivered in the fall of 2025 by Close in the Distance, aimed at the project’s target audience but accessible to anyone interested in learning more about inclusive communication.
-A storytelling and artivism workshop, organized by Stichting Art. 1 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
-A set of 25 illustrated playing cards, complete with usage instructions, available for free download in Italian, English, and Dutch from the Close in the Distance and Stichting Art. 1 websites.
-A final event for sharing and dissemination.

. . . And much more! For more information, visit our Instagram, EPALE and our Blog!

Or write to us at: direttivo@closeinthedistance.com

Pitch Perfect is the acronym of "enhancing psychologists and counselors’ communicative skills towards LGBTQ people with illustrated playing cards".

Its project code is 2023-1-IT02-KA210-ADU-000152439.

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission, it is an Erasmus+ KA210 project (Small-Scale Partnerships) in the field of Adult Education, which started on September 1, 2023. The project will conclude on August 31, 2025.

For this project, Close in the Distance and Stichting Art. 1 received EUR 48,000.00, corresponding to 80% of the total co-funding, from the Italian Erasmus+ National Agency I.N.D.I.R.E.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.