Backup — original pdf

Backup

Recommendation for Continued Funding for Youth LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Services Whereas, the recently completed LGBTQIA+ Quality of Life study reported that survey responses indicated a high risk of serious mental health issues, including depression (42%) and suicidal ideation (12%), and Whereas, 52% of survey respondents also rated their overall mental health since the COVID pandemic as fair, poor, or very poor, a sizeable increase in mental health concerns, and Whereas, an additional community survey reported that more than half (53.5%) of respondents rated their mental health as poor or fair with youth and transgender/gender-expansive individuals indicating a higher percentage of very poor and poor mental health since the pandemic, and Whereas, a 2018 report by the Journal of the American Medical Association indicated that LGBTQ youth were 3.5 times as likely to attempt suicide as their heterosexual peers, transgender teens were 5.87 times more likely, gay and lesbian youth were 3.71 times more likely, and bisexual youth were 3.69 times more likely to attempt suicide than teens who identified as heterosexual, Now therefore be it resolved: that the LGBTQ Quality of Life Commission recommends to City Council that the FY22-23 Budget continue funding of existing youth LGBTQIA+ focused mental health services at the current level of $100,000 through Austin Public Health’s Health Equity contracting portfolio.