Suicide is the second leading cause of death for teens in New York State and Latina adolescents have alarmingly high rates of seriously considering or attempting suicide, as compared to their peers.
Comunilife’s Life is Precious™ (LIP) program provides culturally and linguistically appropriate services for Latina teens, who are living with depression and/or have seriously considered or attempted suicide, and their families. With program sites in the Bronx (2008), Brooklyn (2009), Queens (2015) and Manhattan – Washington Heights (2019), LIP provides activities that directly related to the risk factors that result in suicide ideation. To be eligible for LIP, a Latina teen must be between 12 and 18 years of age, be diagnosed with depression or living with a mental illness or have seriously considered or attempted suicide, be enrolled in school and have parental permission.
LIP provides educational support, creative art therapies, wellness activities and concrete family services to more than 120 teens and their families annually. Most come from low-income families and live in New York City’s poorest communities. LIP’s goal is to eliminate suicide by Latina adolescents by giving them tools that build their resistance and provide the skills to succeed.
2019 Update: LIP has a partnership with Columbia University, Psychiatric Institute, Center of Excellence for Cultural Competency and they have been evaluating the efficacy of LIP interventions to reduce suicide ideations among Latina adolescents. Comunilife early findings that show a reduction of suicide ideation when the girls participate in the program for one month.
Population of focus: Latina adolescents
Links to resource:
- Learn more about Comunilife’s Life is Precious™
- Read Life Is Precious: Views of Adolescents and Their Mothers on Methods to Reduce Suicidal Behavior in Latinas from SAGE Journals
- Read Life is Precious: A Community-Based Program to Reduce Suicidal Behavior in Latina Adolescents from the Archives of Suicide Research
- Read Life is Precious: Reducing suicidal behavior in Latinas from Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care
- View the Life is Precious™ Public Service Announcement (jpg)
- Learn about Comunilife and their commitment to providing vulnerable communities with housing and culturally sensitive supportive services.
Date: 2008, updated March 2019
Contact:
Comunilife is a NNED partner organization, you can find them on Partner Central!