Welcome news! As promised, The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (“Action Alliance”) has launched three new task forces to address suicide prevention including one for youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).
The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention today added three new task forces to address suicide prevention efforts within high-risk populations: American Indians/Alaska Natives; youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT); and military service members and veterans. …
Studies from organizations such as the Suicide Prevention Resource Center report that lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are from 1.5 to seven times more likely to report having attempted suicide than their non-LGBT peers, while transgender youth are believed to have higher rates of suicidal behavior as well.
Co-leading the LGBT Youth Task Force are Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, U.S. Department of Education, and Charles Robbins, Executive Director of The Trevor Project, the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBT youth.
“This task force will bring together the best minds in the country to combat suicide and make sure that every LGBT youth has the opportunity to grow up in a supportive, accepting community and to enter adulthood safely,” Robbins said.
Encouraging is the systematic, scientific approach Action Alliance is taking. As we know with anything LGBT related, data collection and reporting can be woefully lacking. Back in November Action Alliance launched its first batch of task forces to “identify and develop systems and strategies to improve data collection and surveillance of suicidal behaviors, prioritize research on suicide prevention, and update the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.”
The Data and Surveillance Task Force will address many critical issues including the need for more timely data on suicides and suicide attempts, both of which would improve intervention and prevention efforts. This represents a major advancement for suicide prevention since it currently takes several years to detect new trends as they develop.
“The Research Task Force will develop a dynamic, ongoing process that capitalizes on the latest discoveries, identifies the most significant gaps in current knowledge of suicide prevention, and prioritizes the nation’s research efforts,” said Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, and Research Task Force co-lead. “We will develop a process to prioritize topics in suicide prevention research; and with my co-chair, Phillip Satow of the National Council for Suicide Prevention and The Jed Foundation, the task force will look for ways to integrate science and service, which is essential if we are to bend the curve of suicide rates and ensure that suicide deaths decrease dramatically in the next decade.”
The Action Alliance is coordinated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at US Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA also administers the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. SAMHSA’s Administrator is Pamela Hyde is an openly gay Obama appointee.
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