Lifesaving Crisis Services for LGBTQ+ Youth Closing
June 21, 2025An Important Message from Our Partners at Strengthening Wellness
On June 18, 2025, the Trevor Project released a statement confirming notice from the current administration to close the national suicide lifeline for LGBTQ+ youth effective July 17, 2025 operating through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 9-8-8.
As a mental health expert, suicide prevention & intervention specialist, therapist, researcher, and clinical educator, this news is devastating. We need your help. The risk of losing these services puts our young people in peril. Our youth are scared, isolated, targeted, overwhelmed, and in more danger than ever before. LGBTQ+ youth are not more prone to suicide risk because of their identity, rather, their risk comes from how they are mistreated and stigmatized in our society.
Suicide is the most preventable cause of death, yet it is the second leading cause of death for ages 10-14 years and the third leading cause for ages 15–24 years. Among our LGBTQ+ young people, they are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers and researchers estimate more than 1.8 million seriously consider suicide each year. That is at least one attempt every 45 seconds. Expert mental health care for the LGBTQ+ community is not readily available nationwide. Indeed, even locally, our young people face challenges in finding mental health care from truly affirming offices, facing discrimination and demeaning services from supposed “allies”. Oftentimes, the Trevor Hotline is the only confidential crisis support resource for young people reaching out for help.
We need your help. Continued painful and demeaning information coming out of this administration, the news, and social media outlets compound the very real threat of suicide along with higher rates of depression, anxiety, bullying, sexual assault, and physical harm. The ever-present realities of an intersectionality framework and minority stress theory point to even more distress and risks for increased disparities for bisexual youth, transgender and nonbinary youth, and LGBTQ+ young people of color. Our young people are not okay.
As a community advocate, member of the LGBTQ+ community, mother, and empathetic human, I invite you to help where you are able. Every person, every child, every life is a life worth saving.
- You can donate to the Trevor Project to help them continue answering calls.
- You can sign their petition to lawmakers to demand LGBTQ+ Youth protection.
- You can contact your local representative and let your voice be heard.
- You can share this information and campaign with others.
The danger is very real. We can all do our part to let our voices be heard and to send a united message to the administration, our LGBTQ+ youth and young people.
You matter. You are worthy. Your life is worth saving. We are here for you.
To learn more visit:
In solidarity,
Ana M. Salazar, Ph.D., LPC-S
Owner & Clinical Director
Strengthening Wellness, Counseling & Consultation