Who
We are
You Are Loved CIC was founded by social psychologist and researcher Marc Svensson in 2024. Our team is a dynamic group of LGBTQ+ people with a broad range of expertise and experience. Most of us volunteer our time because we feel passionately about our mission and have much love for our community.
Our
Vision & Mission
Our vision is a world in which being LGBTQ+ does not make us more likely to die prematurely from suicide or a drug-related death. A world in which stigma and discrimination are eradicated.
Our mission is to:
- Evidence the high prevalence of suicide and drug-related deaths in our community through data collection.
- Eliminate the prevailing stigma attached to suicide and drug-related deaths in our community.
- Address patterns of behaviour associated with suicide and drug-related deaths in our community.
- Address the underlying factors contributing to suicide and drug-related deaths in our community.
The
Team
You Are Loved is a Community Interest Company (CIC), a non-profit. Most of our team members aren’t paid for their work but volunteer their time and expertise. We could not do what we do without our fantastic core team and amazing volunteers.
Marc Svensson
Founder & Chair of the Board
A published social scientist, researcher, and public speaker, specialised in LGBTQ+ mental health, queerness, and suicide prevention.
Davide Cini
Head of Outreach & Engagement
A highly experienced digital product manager focused on developing support services and building community engagement.
Octavia Landy
Integrative Psychotherapist
An integrative psychotherapist and group facilitator that works extensively with bereavement, grief and loss.
Shane Tanner
Humanistic psychotherapist
A humanistic psychotherapist with extensive experience in working with the LGBTQ+ community in providing grief and bereavement therapy.
Charlie Garnish
Ai Systems & Platform Lead
Charlie joined You Are Loved after developing Glynda.org. He now leads the development of both the front and backend systems that power Ask Bobby.
Keegan Hall-Browne
Support Group Volunteer
A teacher of deaf children as main profession as well as many years of volunteer work experience for LGBTQ+ charities.
Kris Robbens
Senior Marketing Executive & Board Member
A highly experienced marketing executive that have helped building and growing multiple global brands across diverse markets.
Luca Segale
Head of Merchandising & Board Member
A commercial and operations director with exceptional knowledge of the luxury market, e-commerce and retail landscape.
Focus and inclusivity
When we started out in 2024, we focused on gay, bi and queer (GBQ) men, as suicide rates are significantly higher among (cis) men than (cis) women, and drug-related deaths from the so-called ‘chemsex drugs’ (GHB/GBL, crystal methamphetamine and mephedrone) are predominantly an issue in the GBQ male community.
We have since broadened our focus to the whole LGBTQ+ community, as everyone within it – including LBQ women and trans people – is disproportionately affected by sudden premature deaths from suicide and drugs.
Get in
Touch
Have a question or want to get involved? We’d love to hear from you.
General: info@youareloved.org.uk
Support: support@youareloved.org.uk
Press: press@youareloved.org.uk