LGBTI people and communities have been slowly gaining increased recognition of their mental health and suicide outcomes, however, LGBTI populations are still relatively invisible in mental health and suicide prevention strategies, policies and frameworks, and thus excluded from project and programmes responses.

In this online panel discussion with those who have worked within LGBTI communities, we will reflect and discuss the progression of inclusion of LGBTI people, populations and communities in mental health and suicide prevention policies, strategies, and programmes over time.

With the development of the newly released National LGBTI Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Strategy, the panel will also share their hopes for the future of LGBTI mental health and suicide prevention, including a growing visibility of LGBTI people within promotion, prevention, intervention, and treatment.

PANEL MEMBERS

Atari Metcalf brings over a decade of experience in health promotion research, policy and strategy, specialising in e-health services, youth health and suicide prevention. He is a former board director of Suicide Prevention Australia and has worked in senior research roles for ReachOut Australia and as an analyst on national inquiries into asylum seeker, transgender and intersex health and human rights for the Australian Human Rights Commission. Atari also helped establish WA’s first transgender youth peer support and advocacy groups between 2002-2006, and later served as co-chair of Twenty10 incorporating NSW Gay and Lesbian Counselling Services, where he remains a board director. Atari is currently studying graduate medicine with the goal of continuing to promote human rights and health as a future medical doctor.

Dr Jude Comfort is an experienced public health pracademic with an academic background firmly based in a practical health promotion skill base. She runs her own public health consultancy and holds an adjunct position with the Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health (CERIPH) at the School of Public Health at Curtin University, Perth. She has a long background in public health practice and advocacy particularly in health equity and LGBTI health issues. Research areas include cancer prevention, legal drug use, ageing issues and LGBTI health, wellbeing and inclusive practice. She also has a strong interest in advocacy and public policy that promotes health equity which is informed by a social determinants of health philosophy.

Cristyn Davies is a Research Associate in the Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney. Her areas of expertise relevant to this panel include gendered and sexual subjectivities and citizenship; constructions of childhood and youth; sex education, health and wellbeing (including HPV and HPV vaccination); sociology of medicine; gendered and homophobic violence; and innovative pedagogies and educational practice. Cristyn has published widely across the disciplines of Medicine, Health, Education and Gender and Sexuality studies.