LGBTIQ mental health gets a boost this month, with beyondblue announcing$1.2 million in funding for research on mental health.

beyondblue CEO, Kate Carnell AO today announced that www.beyondblue.org.au is allocating $1.2 million to six research projects* focusing on the mental health of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex (GLBTI) people, with more than $240,000 coming from Movember donations.

This announcement comes after beyondblue recently launched a major national awareness campaign aimed at reducing discrimination against young GLBTI people.

Ms Carnell said: “Our research shows that discrimination and bullying significantly contribute to depression, anxiety and the risk of suicide among GLBTI people. Same-sex attracted, sex and gender diverse people face widespread discrimination just for being themselves. Both subtle and overt prejudice and discrimination are major contributors to much higher rates of depression and anxiety amongst GLBTI communities than in the general population.

“GLBTI people are two to three times more likely to experience depression and anxiety than the broader population and are at greater risk of suicide and self-harm.

“We have worked for three years with a GLBTI community reference group to develop the national awareness campaign and it’s pleasing now to be able to continue our collaboration with GLBTI community leaders and researchers. We aim to improve the mental health of people in the community and to build evidence-based information about the most effective ways to prevent and treat depression and anxiety.”

Ms Carnell concluded by thanking Movember for supporting beyondblue’s work with the GLBTI community. “I would like to extend a huge thank you to all the generous Mo Bros and Mo Sistas. This is a great example of how money raised by growing a mo in Movember is spent to improve the mental health of people in the GLBTI community.”

In the same round of research grants announced today, beyondblue has allocated a further $1 million of its funds to four projects focusing on the mental health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and $1 million of Movember funds to five projects focusing specifically on men’s mental health.

• For a full list of funded research projects, and to find out more about beyondblue’s GLBTI activities and resources, go to www.beyondblue.org.au
• For more information about the GLBTI left-handed campaign, which aims to get everyone in Australia to stop the discrimination, think about how comments you make could cause real harm and respect people who are different from you, go to www.lefthand.org.au