How to Advocate for Better LGBT Suicide Prevention at State/Tribal Level

Monday, January 31, 2011 Dr. Scout, Director Network for LGBT Health Equity Dr. Barbara Warren, Hunter College Center on LGBT Soc. Sci. & Public Policy Dave Reynolds, The Trevor Project

Agenda

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Overview of this Advocacy Opportunity

– Dr. Scout, Network for LGBT Health Equity

Linking with the Right State/Tribal Rep

– Dr. Scout

LGBT Youth Suicide Prevention Strategies

Trevor Project – Dr. Barbara Warren, Hunter College Ctr or LGBT Soc. Sci. & Public Policy & Dave Reynolds,

Real World Examples

–Dave Reynolds

Comments

from CenterLink & Equality Federation staff

Overview of this Advocacy Opportunity

Background on Network

     Formerly the Network for LGBT Tobacco Control Funded by CDC Dedicated to linking people and information to advance LGBT health, particularly tobacco control Specialty in working with state departments of health and other health policymakers Conduct a lot of LGBT advocacy at federal level on LGBT health, themes include: collect data, require LGBT disparity plans in all health funding streams.

The Push: Require LGBT Health Disparity Plans!

• • • • • Strategy: if we can encourage federal government, state governments and other health funders to require LGBT disparity plans as part of their mainstream grants, we notably change LGBT services. Acronym buster: RFA is shorthand for Request for Applications. Resources: Network’s Policy Statement on our web, see it here. We can send you examples of another federal RFA that did this too This message can be repeated at state level too!

Why is this news now?

• • • • • Alphabet soup: how do we say Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration in short?

SAMHSA dedicated to enhancing LGBT health, especial interest in T now. They distribute largest block of suicide prevention funds in country, by asking states department of health’s to apply for funds SAMHSA adopted the new strategies and significantly enhanced the LGBT language in the scored section for several suicide prevention RFAs.

This means states will be scrambling to figure out what to say… and that’s where you come in!

RFA overview

• • • • • • • • Purpose: suicide prevention Nickname: Garret Lee Smith awards Due Feb. 16 th 32 states/tribes can apply to get awards for up to $480k/yr Length: up to 3 years States/tribes can designate contractors to do the work for them.

LGBT inclusion plans are requested in two categories that total 55% of all the points you can earn on the proposal. See full RFA at grants.gov, look up RFA # SM-11-001

What does it say? Pt. 1

Section B: Proposed Evidence-Based Service/Practice (25 points) Describe how the proposed practice will address the following issues in the population(s) of focus, while retaining fidelity to the chosen practice: • Demographics – race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, geography, and socioeconomic status; • • • Language and literacy; Sexual identify – sexual orientation and gender identity; and Disability.

What does it say? Pt. 2

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Section C: Proposed Implementation Approach (30 points)

Describe how you will identify, recruit and retain the population(s) of focus (e.g., youth at-risk identified by the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention; including, but not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) youth, AI/AN, military family members and veterans.) Using your knowledge of the language, beliefs, norms and values, and socioeconomic factors of the population(s) of focus, discuss how the proposed approach addresses these issues in outreaching, engaging, and delivering programs to this population e.g. collaborating with community gatekeepers.

Explain how your project will reach youth at risk for suicide or suicide attempts, such as, but not limited to AI/AN youth; Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander youth; Latina adolescents; Justice-involved youth; youth in the foster care system; Trauma survivors; youth who have abused substances; school drop outs and unemployed young people; Returning veterans and their families; LGBT youth (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender youth; Youth who have already attempted suicide (and are thus at heightened risk for a further attempt or death by suicide) or have been seen in Emergency Departments."

States-eye Point of View

• • • • • • If we really want to get these awards, we’d better do everything possible to get all the points. Yikes, look at all this language asking us to talk about what we’ll do for LGBT suicide prevention, never seen that before. Well, I’m not sure what to do for this part of the proposal, and I have to have my writing done by Feb. 10 th !

Maybe someone we fund knows? What are the local LGBT resources? What are the best ways to reach this population? Who can I talk to who will help me figure this out?

Enter YOU!

Linking With the State/Tribal Representative

Linking with the right state rep

• • • • Steps Find the SAMHSA rep for your state/tribe: see all reps in this listing . Call them, see if they’re preparing a Garrett Lee Smith proposal. If no, tough luck. If yes, find out who’s in charge of preparing it. Contact them.

• • Tips Be armed with some LGBT suicide facts to help make your case compelling Present yourself as offering help to the preparer, you are their LGBT inclusion solution, right?

Possible Advocacy goals

• • • • • • • • Getting better LGBT suicide prevention work in your area!

Establishing your org as an LGBT resource for state officials Getting funding for your organization Getting states to collect LGBT data on their big youth survey (called YRBS) Getting LGBT youth included in advisory councils Getting more LGBT inclusion in the state suicide prevention plan Showing your constituency how you are advocating for LGBT civil rights or health Saving lives.

LGBT Youth Suicide Prevention Strategies

SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) RFA Cooperative Agreements for State Sponsored Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention (Short Title: State and Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention SM-11-001 Due: February 16, 2011 32 grants to be awarded for total of $15.3M

Up to $480,000 per year No cost sharing required Grant period Up to 3 years

PURPOSE

The purpose of the grants is to support State-sponsored suicide prevention activities rather than to increase the general availability of mental health services. Use of grant funds for direct clinical services must be clearly linked to the State’s overall suicide prevention strategy.

Activities

…training, assessment, post-suicide intervention services, information and awareness campaigns, and other suicide prevention activities. (Note that the program requirement in Section I 2.2 of this RFA stating that, “[a]t least 85 percent of grant funds must be used for direct services” does not refer to direct clinical services.)

Evidence-based practices Risk & protective factors

• • • • •

RISK- Social isolation Protection:

Decrease social isolation through engagement in peer based support groups- LGBT youth providers and activities, LGBT youth cultural programs, LGBT youth peer support, GSAs

RISK: Adult and family rejection Protection:

from caring adults- guidance counselors, teachers, counselors, mentors Provision of culturally component care and support – need for LGBT cultural competency training and education for these providers

Protection:

Family acceptance: facilitate family engagement with LGBT family support programs, networks and mentors

Sub recipient activities

• • • • • • • Do : outreach and engagement of youth at risk, youth in need Become part of: the referral and case management network Offer Peer support : hotlines, support groups, cultural programming for LGBT positive identity and buddy/friendship programs, GSAs Conduct/participate in: campaigns Focus groups for educational Provide: Cultural competency training and provider education Convene: Parent resources- PFLAG, COLAGE, etc. Offer: LGBT mental health and youth services expertise

Real World Examples

Real World

Examples

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Nearly ½ of all 32 current grantees report activities focused on LGBT youth

• • Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment: http://bit.ly/hTUPDA Massachusetts Department of Public Health: http://bit.ly/gt4tQA

Current Proposals

• California Office of Suicide Prevention and The Trevor Project • Missouri Department of Mental Health and The Trevor Project • The scale and participation of LGBT organizations will be very different for each grant —LGBTQ youth should be included in as many as possible

in a meaningful way

Social Media Platforms Twitter @lgbttobacco Facebook www.facebook.com/lgbt.tobaccocontrol

Blog lgbttobacco.wordpress.com

YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/lgbttobacco

THANK YOU!

The Network for LGBT Tobacco Control looks forward to working with you to collaboratively address LGBT tobacco health disparities.

www.lgbttobacco.org

Additional questions…

Feel free to contact us whenever needed [email protected]

Dr. Scout | Program Director The Network for LGBT Health Equity

The Fenway Institute | Fenway Health Ansin Building, 8th Floor 1340 Boylston Street | Boston, MA 02215 Voice: 401-267-8337 | Fax: 401-633-6092