The Trevor Project expands crisis services to Mexican LGBTQ youth
In honor of National Coming Out Day in the U.S. and Mexico, The Trevor Project announced the official launch of its free, confidential, 24/7 digital crisis services for LGBTQ young people in Mexico.
This milestone is part of The Trevor Project’s expansion of its services to more countries around the world and marks the first time in its nearly 25-year history that it is offering crisis services to young people outside of the U.S. The crisis intervention services for LGBTQ youth will be offered in Spanish across TrevorChat and TrevorText, including SMS text messaging, WhatsApp, and online chat.
As is the case in the U.S., suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people in Mexico. Overall, 28.7 percent of the LGBTQ population has thought about or attempted suicide at some point in their lives. While The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth in the U.S. seriously consider suicide each year, that number is more than 40 million globally.
“It’s incredibly inspiring to see our vision of providing life-affirming crisis services to LGBTQ young people beyond the U.S. being realized today with our launch in Mexico. This is a major milestone in our goal to end the global public health crisis of LGBTQ youth suicide,” said Amit Paley (he/him pronouns), CEO & Executive Director of The Trevor Project. “The Trevor Project is committed to building a world where every single LGBTQ young person has access to resources that affirm who they are, and we couldn’t be more optimistic about the impact we’ll have on this journey to support more LGBTQ young people around the world.”
The Trevor Project announced its plans to expand its best-in-class crisis services outside of the United States in March 2022. To make this expansion possible, the organization built a team of talented and experienced individuals on the ground in Mexico, led by Executive Director Edurne Balmori. As the organization does in the U.S., The Trevor Project Mexico will rely on a volunteer-based model in which counselors will undergo extensive training and implement an evidence-based crisis support model.
“Today we celebrate the activation of our services in Mexico, kicking off what we hope will be a global social movement around suicide prevention,” said Edurne Balmori (she/her pronouns), Executive Director of The Trevor Project Mexico. “For many LGBTQ youth in the country, expressing themselves and simply being who they are can put their physical safety and mental wellness at risk. At The Trevor Project Mexico, we will strive to end the stigma around the issue of mental health, provide LGBTQ youth with a safe and trusted space, and ultimately save lives.”
The Trevor Project is leveraging its relationships with several of its existing corporate and technology partners to enable and support this international work. Of note, Google.org yesterday announced a renewed grant of $2 million, designed specifically to help scale The Trevor Project’s life-saving work to new international geographies. This grant will make Google.org a lead funder of the organization’s international work. In addition, The Trevor Project was able to build and customize its crisis services platform for Mexico using Twilio Flex.
As described in The Trevor Project’s initial international announcement, launching 24/7 digital crisis services for LGBTQ young people in Mexico is part of The Trevor Project’s commitment to expand its services to countries around the world, with a belief that every LGBTQ young person — regardless of where they live — deserves to know that they are not alone.
For U.S. Crisis Services: If you or someone you know needs help or support, The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help, or by texting START to 678678.
For Mexico Crisis Services: If you or someone you know needs help or support, The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors in Mexico are available 24/7 via chat at TheTrevorProject.MX/Ayuda, via SMS by texting “Comenzar” to 67676, or via WhatsApp by texting 55 9225 3337.
