Mia Milinovich Cronkite News
LGBTQ+ youth across the country face an increased risk of suicide, as reported in The Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health. At the forefront of this issue are conversations about anti-LGBTQ+ laws, barriers to accessing mental health care, and the importance of resources for our communities.
The Trevor Project surveyed 28,000 LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 24 across the United States and found that 41% of them had seriously considered suicide. The report also showed that 49% of Arizona’s LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide in 2022, and 16% of them attempted suicide.
Grayson Agrella, 21, is a queer transmasculine student currently studying anthropology, art history, and French at the University of Arizona. He said from his own experience that restrictive laws can exacerbate mental health problems.
“We need to see the state convince us that we are the big problem, and then just go buy groceries,” Agrella said. “I don’t know how I’m going to move forward with the rest of my life when everything is like this. Seeing public sentiment turn against you and an aspect of your identity is a mental health crisis. I think it will have a big impact.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, which tracks anti-LGBTQ+ bills in Congress across the country, said there were 437 such bills as of Tuesday, 11 of them in Arizona.
The ACLU’s list includes bills targeting access to health care, public accommodations, schools and education, freedom of speech and expression, access to accurate ID, and civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.
Katie Kandalis Weiner, clinical director of Inner Balance Counseling of Arizona, said fear and uncertainty about the future is at the heart of this mental health disparity.
“There are laws in place regarding people’s ability to access services that can cause a lot of anxiety, stress, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) symptoms, fear of talking about themselves, and difficulty being themselves. “It can cause problems,” says Kandalis. – Weiner said. “All of these things combine to create an atmosphere that is unfortunately conducive to mental health problems.”
Community members support each other, but the number of health care providers trained in gender-affirming care is often limited.
“I’ve certainly come across situations where I didn’t trust my local hospital and felt like I needed access,” Agrella said. “If I’m in an emergency situation and I know I’m going to come to the hospital and she’s going to have to give me a 20-minute explanation on how to behave as a patient, I don’t feel like it’s worth the effort to come in.”
The shortage of health care providers is a concern not only for LGBTQ+ youth and their families, but also among mental health care professionals who identify as gender-affirming, like Kandalys Weiner. The Trevor Project’s 2023 study found that “56% of LGBTQ+ youth who sought mental health care in the past year did not receive it” for a variety of reasons.
“Whenever I’m trying something, I always look for experts,” says Kandalys Weiner. “The harder it is to find someone, the more likely people are to become discouraged. It’s really important that we have more trained therapists who can help those people.”
One of the resources available to LGBTQ+ youth in Tucson comes from the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation. The foundation first began in 1985 as the Tucson AIDS Project and over time has evolved its mission to encompass LGBTQ+ support and advocacy.
The Thornhill Lopez Center on the 4th is a foundation-owned and operated building with a long history in Arizona.
One of its notable resources is the Eon Youth Lounge, a space where LGBTQ+ youth can gather and enjoy each other’s company. The lounge will serve as an information center for the community and their families.
“The Aeon Youth Lounge has existed in one form or another since the 1970s,” said Emerson Kuhn, SAAF’s associate director of LGBTQ+ program services. “One youth participant said that eons are the period of time that LGBTQ+ people have existed, and it is the period of time that they will continue to exist. That’s where the name comes from.”
SAAF provides substance use prevention to Arizona Life Links for Youth through its Youth Empowerment Leadership and Life Skills (YELL) program, sexual violence prevention, and a suicide prevention program called ALLY.
Agrela’s first interaction with SAAF came through Mapping Q, a joint program with the University of Arizona. Mapping Q is “a series of virtual art workshops for her LGBTQIA+ youth in Arizona” and also offers additional workshops to the community.
“I did suicide prevention training through the Mapping Q program,” Agrella said. “It was a room of queer people talking about how we can make a little bit more of our own survival. It’s a big, scary conversation, but it’s also a very necessary one.”
4 at the Thornhill Lopez Center, LGBTQ+ youth will be introduced to these programs and welcomed into a space that celebrates their identities.
“The Aeon Youth Lounge is designed to be a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth and allies to come together to build community and discuss various aspects of minority stress they face,” said Kuhn. said. “It’s just a celebration. It’s about raising queer joy and queer visibility among young people so they can feel more empowered about who they are and how they interact in this world.” We want to help you do that.”
Barriers to mental health care
Celia Robidoux, the foundation’s director of LGBTQ+ program services, spoke about how communities outside of these safe spaces impact their mental health.
“It’s very hard not to feel that with the political climate and the rhetoric in the media, society, especially transgender and nonconforming youth, is being attacked in a really terrible way,” Robidoux said. “The majority of young people who experience negative thoughts about their identity also hear negative things about the LGBTQ+ community at home.”
Bre Wandrich, a Phoenix psychotherapist and certified master social worker, said these outside attitudes can be a barrier to receiving care.
“Certainly one of the barriers is that minors need parental consent,” Wondrich said. “If they don’t go out or their parents aren’t supportive, that can be difficult.”
Agrella said she was blessed with strong family support.
“I was very fortunate that my parents were supportive and accepting and were willing to work through things to help me find the resources I needed,” Agrella said. “It’s really devastating to see people go through situations where their families wish they weren’t present as their authentic selves. It’s demoralizing.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a direct impact on both access to care and community access for LGBTQ+ youth in need of care. David Vargas, a bilingual health education specialist with the AIDS Foundation’s YELL program, has observed firsthand the impact social isolation has on communities.
“The pandemic has taught many people that isolation is safe, especially for young people,” Vargas said. “I’m currently teaching high school students whose entire middle school experience was remote. There was a really important point of growing in our community and testing their limits, and they didn’t have that. It’s all through a screen. was.”
To address the lack of access for LGBTQ+ youth seeking mental health care, health care providers have begun creating alternatives for those with limited access to transportation.
SAAF built the Eon Youth Lounge satellite site to provide a welcoming space for LGBTQ+ youth across Tucson to come together.
“We have the Aeon Youth Lounge here at the Center open every Thursday night from 6pm to 8pm, but we also have four satellite sites where we go to other partner agencies and host Aeon programs there. ” said Kuhn. “Because not all young people in the Tucson metropolitan area can go to the center.”
Therapists and providers specializing in LGBTQ+ care, like Kandalys Weiner, have also developed remote virtual services for the community. But Wondrich points out that teletherapy may not be the answer for everyone.
“Not everyone has access to reliable Wi-Fi,” Wondrich said. “Not everyone has a safe space in their home or a private space where they can access treatment in that way. Even if you have a private room, you may worry that you can hear voices through the walls. I don’t know.”
homeless youth
Another barrier to accessing mental health care has emerged for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, “LGBTQ+ youth are 120% more likely to be homeless than non-LGBTQ youth.”
Daniel Fowler, SAAF Community Program Manager, explained the importance of considering the broader definition of homelessness.
“Most people define living on the streets as living on the street, but it’s actually defined as not having safe, regular housing,” Fowler said. “Couchsurfing, living with friends, changing homes, all of those things fit the bill.”
Fowler said LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness need to consider their safety.
“How you identify someone affects these statistics,” Fowler said. “If it’s a men’s shelter or a women’s shelter, how a person identifies affects whether or not they’re accepted. So what about my identity and the shelter?” Which is more important?”
Members of the LGBTQ+ community like Agrella believe that while addressing the issues facing the community, it is equally important to highlight the beauty of queer joy.
“I think if you have a space where you can intentionally celebrate each other and the beautiful and wonderful parts of your life, that’s really important to combat all the negative energy that’s in the air,” Agrella said. said. “Community is everything. If you don’t have community, what do you have?”
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day on 988 or online chat. Teen Lifeline telephone support is available 24 hours a day via 602-248-TEEN (8336). Text support is available weekdays from 12:00 PM to 9:00 PM and weekends from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Peer counseling is available daily from 3pm to 9pm.
