Brite Line: Bringing Hope to the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community

Authors: Glynnis Lieb PhD (she/her), Stephanie Chard (she/her), Fenne Nelson (they/them)

Data repeatedly show that 2SLGBTQIA+ people - particularly youth – are approximately three times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population. Transgender people are six times more likely. One factor that plays a role in keeping these numbers high is lack of access to affirming support services.

It is in this spirit that Neil Salsbury, a former Executive Committee member for the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies & Services, came up with the idea to create a safe and dedicated crisis intervention service. He, with the support of our team, had advocated for such a service for years without success. Then the Living Hope initiative came into the picture. Living Hope's focus on creating tangible supports that make a concrete difference was the catalyst needed to make Brite Line a reality.

Through partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association – Edmonton Region, Brite Line launched on June 8th, 2021 and received over 220 calls by the end of the 2021 year. While most calls were focused on mental health concerns, common underlying factors were social isolation, fear of judgement from friends and family in coming out and lack of understanding about supports available in the community.

When Jayden (he/they) phoned into Brite Line, he was having thoughts of self harm and in speaking with a volunteer trained in crisis intervention, it became apparent that underlying those thoughts was pain from gender dysphoria and a lack of understanding from their parents. By having a non-judgemental space to share his story, he was able to collaborate on creating a plan to stay safe for the night and received referrals to affirming and inclusive supports that could help them as they move forward.

Through Brite Line, we are recognizing that mental health systems can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach if they want to truly create meaningful impact. Our eventual vision is to have this line be led by and answered by members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. To paraphrase the poet and author Billy Ray Belcourt, we hope that the pain so many within our community have endured can in turn be a lighthouse for those feeling trapped in darkness and provide the sense of hope and connection we all deserve.

Note: names and circumstances of callers have been modified to maintain their confidentiality.