Contact me now at (255) 352-6258 or complete my booking form to secure your appointment today.
Suicide in the LGBTQ community is rampant. And in those in the LGBTQ community with bipolar disorder, it’s even worse. Please help stem that tide.
I know many of you are straight — most of you are, in fact. But I’m not. I’m bisexual. I’m part of the LGBTQ community and I’m asking for your help to stop suicide in this community and especially in the community where an LGBTQ person also has bipolar disorder. A queer youth with bipolar disorder has the very highest risk of suicide. This double-whammy of a sexuality that many won’t accept and an illness that can take your life is something that is almost impossible to deal with.
Almost.
I want to show that it’s not impossible to deal being queer and bipolar. It’s hard and it’s black and it looks like there is no hope; but hope is there, in the crevices, in the cracks and in the small streams of daylight we can bring to their night.
Yes, I’m asking you to consider donating. While I know many of you don’t normally donate to causes, I’m asking you to skip two lattes and give that $10.00 to queer, mentally ill youth. I’m asking you to help me to create a safe space online to help those who feel they currently have no place to go.
Specifically, this project is being delivered by Hope Xchange, an American non-profit who works with at-risk people with bipolar disorder. They aim to provide a safe space online for queer youth with bipolar disorder and also provide support and advocacy for those individuals.
Luckily for me, my bisexuality never compounded my bipolar symptoms — but it could have. I can’t tell you the number of times that I heard that “bisexuality doesn’t exist” or “don’t date those people, they’ll just leave you for a guy/girl” or “bisexuals can’t be faithful.” People completely denigrate and sideline my sexuality — my real, born sexuality. And it can be so much worse for others. Others are bullied. Others are ostracized.
In fact:
And the numbers only get worse when you mix in a serious mental illness.
People have been made to feel like they are worth nothing because they are part of the LGBTQ community. And this, of course, just confirms what a bipolar brain would tell them, too.
But this is not true.
We are valued. We are loved. And we need a safe space where we can feel that way.
So help me and help Hope Xchange create a safe, online space for those with bipolar disorder who are also part of the LGBTQ community.
Skip two lattes. Help a teenager. It’s that simple.
Learn more about the campaign and donate here.
Source for statistics: HealthyPlace.
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
Connect with Natasha at the social media links below.
Shopping for someone with a mental illness can feel tricky—you want a gift that actually helps, not just more clutter. This guide walks you through 15 thoughtful, low-pressure mental health gifts that offer real comfort, reduce stress, and say, “I see you and I’m here,” during the holidays and all year.
I’m never going to call bipolar pain a “gift.” Most days, I just want it to stop. But emotional and even physical pain aren’t always random torture—they’re often trying to tell us something. This piece digs into what your pain might be saying, how to listen, and how that can make living with it just a little easier.
After 24 of 30 TMS sessions with no meaningful improvement, I wrote the guide I needed: why failed treatment hurts, how to get through the next 72 hours, and what to ask your clinician now.
Subscribe to my monthly newsletter to get the latest from Bipolar Burble, Breaking Bipolar, my vlogs at bpHope, my masterclasses, and other useful tidbits -- plus get a FREE eBook on coping skills.
My daughter is asexual and even LGBTQ groups don’t accept that! She has never felt a sexual feeling in her life. She tried to date a girl but it didn’t last one day…she just doesn’t feel those types of feelings for anyone, male or female. Her friends have accepted her. She suffers from depression and anxiety, and suicidal thinking, and at 16, is in danger of developing bipolar disorder since I have it and her brother has it. Thankfully her father and I support her, and her school has a gay/straight alliance club which welcomes everyone, including her. That goes such a long way in letting a child know they are accepted. She has a gay friend whose mother thinks it’s a phase, and two lesbian friends afraid to come out to their parents. What the hell is wrong with these parents? The parent is the number one person who affects a child’s belief in the knowledge that they are SAFE. When a parent refuses to acknowledge the child’s sexuality (or lack thereof), they are making the child feel emotionally unsafe.
And even worse, many of their parents completely kick them out. Our best them do bad they have to leave. And if they don’t find their way to someone who are help, they end up on the street where almost all of them are booked on drugs and selling their bodies to survive… Most homeless kids are first approached by traffickers within 24 hours
I have had a lot more kids die from lack of mental health care than I’ve ever lost getting treatment. I lost my brother in law this week do to lack of mental health care. Are there bad mental health professionals? Of course. But if we had been able to talk him into getting care, I wouldn’t be having to explain to a 7 and 6 year old why there daddy isn’t coming home
up until 1979 the APA and psychiatrists claimed people like me had a “brain disease” that needed to be cured with electrical shocks and chemical torture. I’d rather keep any queer kids from that evil system.
That is true. But now counselors and Psychiatrist have been some of my biggest supporters. The system isn’t evil because of something 37 years ago. And denying any kid, especially a LGBTQ kid, medical care because they didn’t understand before is cruel. I agree everyone needs to be careful of who they get treatment from, but there is no need to disparage a whole group who now are mostly very progressive and supportive
Hi Monica,
Thanks for that response. You’re absolutely right.
– Natasha Tracy
I’ve come too lose to losing to many kids too not getting treatment
all i ever got was denied hormones and sold lobotomy pills, to the point wherei had to get them from an overseas pharmacy. i’d rather the quacks go out of business for good than make more kids have to resort to what i did.
I’m sorry you were denied the treatment you needed. I had a friend that went through several doctors before she found one that understood and got her the help she needed to get her hormones, and it was rough till she found someone. But she’s now living as her wonderful self because she found the doctor who could help her… Without her, she’d be dead
I will disparage an entire group when it is due: they are nothing but lying, 2-faced charlatans that will say anything to get money, and have more lives to ruin. There are no good shrinks.
They are regressive, myopic coercive monsters that live to make people into suffering, permanently ill addicts.
Thank you for this article and your campaign to bring attention to this very real and very serious situation for those of us who are not “straight”, such as myself. My teen years were filled with bullying, suicidal thoughts, and one attempt. Even as a woman in her 30’s I still feel the stigma of my sexuality and my bipolar from society. I still do not have acceptance from my family because of my sexual orientation and at times I’ve still told told I am “confused”. It hurts. I am not confused, I am very comfortable with my sexual orientation and I am a grown woman. But as a teenager dealing with that plus undiagnosed bipolar which I tried to “fix” by self medicating I was a disaster waiting to happen. I am thankful I made it out alive, and that is not an exageration.
No disrespect meant, but perhaps you should ditch the term queer. It has a very negative connotation. I can’t think of a good replacement, but identifying yourself with such a term can’t be healthy for a person.
Hi Mary Ann,
People in the community commonly refer to themselves as “queer.” That would be the “Q” in LGBTQ. You may find it negative but I don’t and neither do many others.
– Natasha Tracy
Yeah, none of the kids I work with think of Queer as an insult. It’s especially used by kids who don’t fit into binary boxes.
I identify as queer. I’m a tomboy. I was born a woman, but I identify more as a man and am androgynous. Calling myself queer is easier to understand for most than hearing “I’m non binary androgynous”.
Thank you for this. My first bad manic streak was triggered by the loss of my first love to suicide when her parents told her she could love me or them, not both. And I have taken in several LGBTQ and/or mentally ill kids kicked out by their parents, and have had them attempt suicide because of rejection…and obviously, the ones dealing with both are the hardest to get help.
Awesome. Though I hope the “$510.00” is missing a dash, or I really think you’re getting ripped off by your barista!
Damnit! Starbucks, you got me again!
(Thanks. I fixed it.)
– Natasha Tracy