When is it safe enough? Psychological safety through LGBTQ+ experience
Psychological safety is widely discussed, but often narrowly defined. For LGBTQ+ people, and particularly those navigating visibility, identity disclosure, or difference, psychological safety is not just about speaking up in meetings. It is about daily judgement calls: What do I share? What do I edit? When is it safe to challenge? When is it safer not to?
Psychological safety is widely discussed, but often narrowly defined. For LGBTQ+ people, and particularly those navigating visibility, identity disclosure, or difference, psychological safety is not just about speaking up in meetings. It is about daily judgement calls: What do I share? What do I edit? When is it safe to challenge? When is it safer not to?
This session explores psychological safety through a queer lens — not as an abstract cultural ideal, but as a lived, practical experience shaped by power, norms, risk, and organisational behaviour.
Drawing on workplace practice rather than theory alone, Joanne Lockwood will unpack what psychological safety looks like for LGBTQ+ people at work, where organisations unintentionally undermine it, and how leaders, managers, and colleagues can create conditions that are genuinely safer, without over‑simplifying or over‑promising.
This is not about perfection, slogans, or forcing disclosure. It is about understanding how safety is assessed in real time — and what helps or hinders people from showing up fully, consistently, and sustainably at work.
Attendees will:
• Gain a clearer understanding of psychological safety as a situational, lived experience, not a fixed workplace condition
• Recognise how LGBTQ+ people often assess safety before speaking, disclosing, or challenging at work
• Identify common organisational behaviours that unintentionally undermine psychological safety, despite good intentions
• Take away practical principles for supporting safer working environments without pressuring openness or disclosure
This session is relevant for:
• LGBTQ+ professionals reflecting on their own workplace experiences
• People leaders, managers, and HR practitioners
• EDI, OD, and wellbeing professionals
• Allies seeking to support inclusion in a more realistic, sustainable way
No prior knowledge is required. Register now
About the facilitator
Joanne Lockwood is the founder of SEE Change Happen, a UK‑based consultancy specialising in lawful, human‑centred workplace inclusion in high‑scrutiny environments. Joanne works with senior leaders, HR teams, and organisations across the public and private sectors to translate complex inclusion challenges into practical, defensible action. With particular expertise in LGBTQ+ and transgender inclusion, Joanne is known for her calm, realistic approach to psychological safety, focusing on how people actually experience work rather than how policies say they should.
