Lambert House is a Seattle-based organization that has served LGBTQ+ youth in Washington for over 40 years. They provide support groups, education, and leadership opportunities in a safe, supportive environment.

LGBTQ+ youth are at a higher risk of suicide than their peers, so we were thrilled when Lambert House approached us in early 2021, to ask if we would be interested in working with them to develop a suicide prevention training program for their organization.

The core of our suicide prevention trainings is our Forefront Suicide Prevention LEARN® gatekeeper training. We knew we needed to address the specific concerns and questions that those working with LGBTQ+ youth would have regarding this vulnerable population, so we worked with Lambert House program staff to develop a culturally appropriate, customized curriculum for their community and the population they serve. We also helped develop custom materials, such as a decision tree that Lambert House volunteers use when a youth is considering suicide.

“As an LGBTQ+ youth center, suicide is an unfortunately important and necessary topic to train our staff and volunteers on. We have been partnering with organizations expert in this topic for decades. We began partnering with Forefront because the LEARN model gave us a much more consistent training curriculum, the staff at Forefront care deeply about our community like we do, and the Forefront was willing to put in a lot of time and effort to ensure the presentation was customized to our needs highlighting specific risk and protective factors, and statistics relating to the LGBTQ+ youth community. Our volunteers have consistently expressed increased confidence and comfort with this difficult topic.”

–Brandon Knox, Lambert House Program Director

Since the initial training in 2021, we’ve worked with Lambert House to deliver this program to their staff and volunteers twice a year. Feedback has been uniformly positive–here are some of the things our training participants have had to say:

• “This was really difficult at points but I really appreciate how you handled the discussion with care & empathy.”
• “Learning how to bring up the topic of concern about suicide was very helpful. starting the conversation is the hardest part but now I feel I know how to start the conversation.”
• “Thank you so much. I wish more folks had access to this training! It was so useful and I plan to use the LEARN method personally and occupationally with others.”
• “I really enjoyed the presentation and the practical methods it provided for discussing this difficult topic. The trainer was super responsive to the group’s questions and an overall fabulous facilitator.”

“Hearing feedback like this is both gratifying and humbling” says Charlene Ray (pictured), who leads our trainings for Lambert House. “It is an honor to be able to facilitate the LEARN training for the volunteers at Lambert House. They are consistently a group of people who are passionate about supporting a community that is at higher risk for suicide. They understand the importance of connection and validation as a protective factor. I always leave inspired from engaging with Lambert House.”

If you’d like to talk to us about how we can support your suicide prevention programming, please let us know.

Check out the Lambert House calendar here, and learn about their Monster Masquerade Ball on October 28.