June is LGBT Pride Month
Written By: Brian Altman, Legislative Director, SAMHSA
June is LGBT Pride Month and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration recognizes the importance of ensuring equity and meeting the behavioral health needs of the LGBT community.
SAMHSA’s mission to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities includes the LGBT community. SAMHSA has developed manuals, training curriculums, treatment protocols and toolkits to address training needs. These materials are designed to address the 31 LGBT-specific/inclusive Action Steps in SAMHSA’s eight Strategic Initiatives.
Although SAMHSA is proud of these resources, there is always much more to do. Take the example of suicide. In September of 2011, SAMHSA awarded 38 new Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention grants, among which are 10 that focused on LGBT youth. For example, the state of Arizona is extending mini grants to organizations that serve LGBTQ populations for selected interventions, including gatekeeper training, social marketing, parent education, youth leadership through Sources of Strength and an annual camp. In September 2010, Secretary Sebelius and former Secretary Gates launched The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. The NAASP has a Task Force for LGBTQ Suicide Prevention which has contributed to the revision of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention by integrating recommendations and identifying promising practices emerging in the field.
SAMHSA also provides Grants for the Benefit of Homeless Individuals and currently two of the grantees are targeting their efforts on the issue of youth LGBTQ homelessness. For example, the Ali Forney Center in New York targets LGBTQ runaway, homeless, and street youth and young adults. The clients served are all between the ages of 16-24; 22% are transgender; 90% of clients are uninsured and the majority of individuals do not even have proper identification; and at least 20% are HIV positive.
SAMHSA is dedicated to improving the behavioral health and well-being of all Americans, including LGBT Americans, and looks forward to continuing this work each day.
I would like access to the material to address the 31 LGBT-specific/inclusive Action stepsin SAMHSA’S eight Strategic Initiatives.
Thank you,
I had the great privilege of working at The PRIDE Institute in Eden Prairie, MN for both my clinical internship and as a continuing care clinical case manager. It was sad to learn about the high rates of substance dependence within the population along with the high rates of HIV. I think we are doing a decent job of addressing the issue(s) here in Minnesota, but of course there is always room for improvement.
Excellent post, I want to thank you for this informative read, I really appreciate sharing this great post.Keep up your work.