Support Veteran and LGBTQIA Mental Health

Hi, My name is Michele (she/her) and I am asking for help with starting costs for a Mental Health Counseling private practice (Greater Life Counseling ) for the Veteran and LGBTQIA+ communities.

I am a cisgender female Navy Veteran and a Mental Health Counselor in Washington and Oregon. I have a special focus on working with LGBTQIA+, non-binary, Active and Reserve duty Military, and Veterans. LGBTQIA+ means lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning), intersex, asexual (or allies), and other sexual orientations and gender identities not easily summed up in one term.

I want to serve these communities and I need help with funding startup costs. The LGBTQIA+ and Veteran communities are both underserved with very high suicide rates.

Veteran

From 2017 to 2018, the average number of Veteran suicides per day rose from 17.5 to 17.6, and ~6,435 annually . The unadjusted suicide rate in 2018 among Veterans rose from 31.3 per 100,000 to 32.0 per 100,000 in 2018. While among non-Veteran U.S. adults, in 2018, the unadjusted rate rose 16.9 per 100,000 in 2017 and 17.2 per 100,000 in 2018. In 2021, research found that 30,177 active duty personnel and veterans who served in the military after 9/11 (20 year span) have died by suicide - compared to the 7,057 service members killed in combat in those same 20 years.

LGBTQIA+

Due to the stress and threat of discrimination, LGBTQIA+ individuals are twice as likely to experience mental health issues in their life, and have more than double the rate of depression than the heterosexual population. Suicide is a leading cause of death for LGBTQIA+ people ages 10-24 and across their lifespan. LGBTQIA+ youth are more than five times more likely to die by suicide than their heterosexual peers. Across the board, LGBTQIA+ individuals faced more barriers to accessing aid and care — particularly for transgender people of color and Black men who identify as gay . Forty-eight percent of LGBTQ youths reported engaging in self-harm each year, including over 60% of transgender and nonbinary youths.