NEW YORK — Last week the Trevor Project announced its text and chat counseling services, TrevorText and TrevorChat, are now available 24/7 for the first time in the organization’s 21-year history.
The suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth made the announcement with AT&T Turn Up the Love, the company’s campaign to support and engage LGBTQ people and allies, and media personality and activist Tyler Oakley. Oakley spoke about his moments of feeling hopeless and alone during his youth and explains the chat and text counseling services.
The Project said that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers.
“The Trevor Project wants every young LGBTQ person to know that they are never alone and can always reach out to us for help,” said Amit Paley, CEO a executive director of The Trevor Project, in a press release. “Now that our text and chat services are available around the clock, thanks to financial support, products, services, and employee volunteers provided by AT&T, we can provide life-saving support to even more of the 1.5 million LGBTQ young people we estimate to need our services every year. With the help of Tyler Oakley and AT&T, we’re able to reach LGBTQ youth nationwide so they know how to connect with trained crisis counselors at any time, who can tell them that they are loved, valued, and never alone.”
The organization said it was expanding its chat and text services because recent evaluations had found more than 60% of youth preferred using text to phone or in-person counseling.
“Moments of crisis are different for everyone, and I hope that by sharing mine, LGBTQ youth know there’s no reason too big or small to reach out to The Trevor Project,” said Oakley. “Asking for support isn’t always easy — it’s important to meet LGBTQ young people where they are, with counselors who are trained to meet their unique needs, and on platforms they’re comfortable using.”
The Trevor Project continues to operate the Trevor Life Line, its confidential phone line, which has been available 24/7 since the organization’s inception 21 years ago.
Article Provided by Illinois Eagle written by Tom Wray
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