PS45 - Elevating Equity: Advancing Approaches to Empower Marginalized Groups and Sub-populations with Suicide Risk

Pride Talk: Informing the Development of an Online Gatekeeper Training for 2S/LGBTQ+ Individuals
August, 31 | 08:30 - 10:00

2S/LGBTQ+ individuals, including Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals – experience elevated rates of suicide-related outcomes. Despite this high burden of distress, suicide prevention interventions tailored to 2S/LGBTQ+ communities are scarce. A promising intervention for preventing suicide in high-risk groups are gatekeeper trainings, which encourages the development of knowledge, attitudes, and skills to identify those at risk of suicide, respond directly, and refer at-risk individuals to appropriate services. Gatekeeper trainings have rarely been offered or developed for 2S/LGBTQ+ communities. This is a missed opportunity as our research shows that 73% of 2S/LGBTQ+ individuals know someone who has attempted suicide, that suicidal 2S/LGBTQ+ individuals prefer seeking help from their peers, and that over 80% of 2S/LGBTQ+ individuals are interested in gatekeeper trainings, with the majority preferring an online format. Pride Talk is a research project that aims to develop and evaluate an evidence-based online gatekeeper training specific to 2S/LGBTQ+ communities. To inform the development of this training, we recently conducted interviews with 30 experts in suicide prevention and 2S/LGBTQ+ mental health, and 60 individuals from 2S/LGBTQIA+ communities who have supported a peer and/or received peer support in the context of suicide. This presentation will provide an overview of the knowledge and insights gained from these interviews, that will be subsequently used by our team to design a gatekeeper training with stakeholders and members of the 2S/LGBTQ+ community. Our hope is that this new training can be a step towards reducing the suicide burden of 2S/LGBTQ+ communities.

Speakers