LGBTQ

988 Lifeline - The Trump administration on Thursday afternoon officially terminated the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ Youth Specialized Services program, which gave callers under age 25 the option to speak with LGBTQ-trained counselors.

“Everyone who contacts the 988 Lifeline will continue to receive access to skilled, caring, culturally competent crisis counselors who can help with suicidal, substance misuse, or mental health crises, or any other kind of emotional distress. Anyone who calls the Lifeline will continue to receive compassion and help,” the agency stated at the time.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched in July 2022, two years after President Donald Trump signed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, making 988 the universal number for the national suicide prevention line. The bipartisan legislation noted that LGBTQ youths “are more than 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers and stated that SAMHSA “must be equipped to provide specialized resources” to high-risk populations, including LGBTQ youths...

Nearly 1.5 million contacts were routed to the LGBTQ service since its launch, according to data available on the SAMHSA website.