Family Focused Counseling for LGBTQI+ Youth at Risk for Suicide: A Community-Partnered Initiative - Title: Family Focused Counseling for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex+ (LGBTQI+) Youth at Risk for Suicide: A Community-Partnered Initiative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and Intersex+ (LGBTQI+) youth living in Pennsylvania are at high risk for adverse mental health outcomes, including suicide. In the state of Pennsylvania there are an estimated 74,000 LGBTQI+ youth, with 71% identifying as White, 6% Black, 7% Latinx, 4% Asian American/Pacific Islander, 1% Middle Eastern/Northern African, and 11% more than one race/ethnicity. In 2019, the School District of Philadelphia reported that in the past 12 months, 27% of LGBTQI+ high school students had attempted suicide, compared to 14.6% of students overall. Additionally, 46.1% of LGBTQI+ students had considered suicide, compared to 16.4% of students overall. The proposed project will take place at Thomas Jefferson University and the David Farber Advancement of Suicide Prevention, Intervention, Research, and Education (ASPIRE) Center and has the potential to address this clear public health need among LGBTQI+ youth in Pennsylvania and improve care both for youth who require a higher level of care at the ASPIRE Center as well as youth earlier in the development of mental health disorders receiving care at community-based organizations. Almost half of the respondents (48%) of the Pennsylvania LGBTQ Health Needs Assessment stated that they have had thoughts of harming themselves. Among those respondents, 83.3% first experienced these thoughts of self-harm at the age of 19 or younger. 50.6% of respondents disclosed that they have contemplated suicide at some stage in their life. Additionally, the data found that queer young adults and youths (24 or younger) are more at-risk, with 90.4% reporting mental health challenges in the past 12-months. Suicide was identified as a top priority by 35.5% percent of respondents, making it the third highest prioritized mental health concern and particularly in participants aged 20 and younger, who reported suicide as a top priority 48.6% of the time. These findings underscore the critical importance of strengthening support systems for LGBTQI+ youth and their families to effectively address these prevalent mental health challenges. The proposed project seeks to achieve the following goals and objectives to address this public health need: 1) Enhance availability of family-focused suicide prevention services for LGBTQI+ youth in Philadelphia with the creation of an ASPIRE Center LGBTQI+ youth track 2) Strengthen state-wide upstream prevention efforts to promote family counseling and support for LGBTQI+ youth prior to the development of adverse clinical outcomes 3) Establish ASPIRE Center as a known community-partnered mental health organization providing evidence-based family counseling and support for LGBTQI+ youth. The Attic Youth Center, Philadelphia FIGHT, and the Mazzoni Center have agreed to support the proposed project activities, including coordinating referral pathways with the ASPIRE Center and providing representatives for the LGBTQI+ youth and family advisory workgroup that will act as a key partner in the implementation of all grant activities.
