Tackling suicide by providing better mental health support will be the focus of two research grants to support Western Australia’s LGBTQI community.
Murdoch University has received a $70,050 Healthway grant for a mental health research project which aims to understand the mental health needs of those who identify as both Aboriginal and LGBTQI, and work with mental health services to better respond to their needs.
Aboriginal and LGBTQI people face some of the highest rates of suicide compared to any other population groups in Australia.
The Telethon Kids Institute will utilise an additional $70,050 grant from Healthway to adapt an online interactive game that shares key skills which aim to help prevent the onset of depression in transgender young people.
Nearly 75 per cent of transgender youth in Australia have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, and about half of them have attempted suicide.
In Western Australia, there are thousands of transgender people aged 15-24 years old.