Long Island Crisis Center

Pride for Youth (PFY) was established in 1993 to serve Long Island’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their families. With a disproportionate number of suicide calls being received by the Crisis Center’s hotlines, it became evident that this population was at a greater risk for suicide and suicide attempts (studies indicate that they are at a four time greater risk for suicide than their straight counterparts). Today, PFY delivers a cadre of free services:  individual, family and group counseling for youth from 13 to 26 years of age; sexual health services to provide testing and education on HIV/STDs and unintended pregnancies; youth leadership opportunities; MPowerment, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C prevention through community outreach and education to gay/bisexual young men of color up to age 30; and PFY’s cornerstone project, The Coffeehouse, which is a weekly, Friday evening drop-in center for LGBT youth and their straight allies.

Building Healthy Lives Through Education was established in 1979 when the Crisis Center recognized the need for schools to address the issues of adolescent depression and suicide prevention.  The program delivers workshops on-site in schools to both students and professional staff.  These workshops encompass a menu of topics that respond to emerging health problems and emotional dilemas that are threatening young people and presenting challenging behaviors for classroom teachers to resolve in an academic setting.  Topics for students currently include: Suicide Awareness and Prevention; Anger Management; Understanding Self-Injury; Cyber Bullying Awareness; Understanding Homophobia; Understanding Transphobia; and Facilitating Gay/Straight Alliances.  School Faculty is offered Adolescent Suicide Prevention; Making Schools Safer f0r Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning Youth (LGBTQ); Adolescent Self-Injury; and, Adolescent Eating Disorders.