September is Suicide prevention month.
In fact September 10-16 was suicide prevention week.
Suicide impacts many communities. It impacts some communities more than others. In a recent post I mentioned that the Military community is disproportionally impacted by this. The LGBTQ+ community is another community that is disproportionally impacted, particularly LGBTQ+ youth.
LGBTQ youth are 5 times more likely to attempt suicide.
41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.
Regardless of your belief system children dying is bad. Period. Regardless of their sexual orientation.
This is not because of their sexual orientation. It is because of how others treat them. What this means is that this can be corrected and you can help. Studies have shown that youth with support systems are much less likely to attempt suicide.
It might be difficult to do but all it takes is reaching out and telling someone you care and they are valued.
So take a moment and reach out. It could mean the world.
But there are also services that help.
First there is a national suicide and mental health hotline. Just dial 988 (or text 838255) and you can be on the phone with someone who can help.
The TREVOR PROJECT is the leading organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth. They. Keep. Kids. Alive.
You can call the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7368 or they are on the web at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help-now/
Please use these resources if you have or know someone that has been having difficulty.
As always I hope this helps. I look forward to continuing the conversation. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
All the best,
Dave Terné
