Editor's note: Mental Health Musings (MHM) will focus on community resources and stories throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Members of the LGBTQ+ community experience higher rates of mental health challenges than the general population, but those mental health challenges are largely due to discrimination and stigma, according to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF).

Fifty-nine percent of LGBTQ+ adults and 60 percent of transgender adults are battling poor mental health today according to data from the Centers of Disease Control and Preventions' most recent Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System that the HRCF analyzed. 

But lack of health insurance, cost of care, cultural inadequate providers, homelessness and poverty were all barriers to getting care. 

Below are several national and local organizations aiming to address this. This list is not exhaustive. 

The Trevor Project

The national organization provides crisis and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ youth under 25 through multiple programs, including their 24-hour hotline at 1-866-488-7386. They also provide these services via text and chat. 

For more information about their services, visit their website.

The Mental Health Coalition’s Roadmap to LGBTQ+ Mental Health 

The Mental Health Coalition, a group of leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to mental and behavioral health like the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Mental Health America, partnered with Universal Music Group and the Universal Music All Together Now Foundation to create a guide for mental health resources in the LGBTQ+ community. 

The guide includes resources but also definitions to concepts like disclosure fatigue and code switching to tips on fostering better mental health. 

To view the complete roadmap, visit their website.

Pride Center of Western New York 

While based in Buffalo, the Pride Center of Western New York provides resources throughout the region, including LGBTQ+ affirmative addiction and substance use counseling and meetings, connection to mental health counseling and insurance enrollment help. 

For more information, visit their website.

Trans Lifeline

The grassroots hotline offers direct emotion and financial support to trans people in crisis. Their peer-to-peer hotline operates in the U.S. at 877-565-8860 and in Canada at 877-330-6366.

For more, visit their website.

The GLBT National Help Center

The national nonprofit helps connect LGBTQ+ members to resources within their communities through a searchable database by zip code, distance and category.

They also operate two national hotlines: one for people of all ages at 888-843-4564 and their LGBT National Youth Talkline, for those 25 and younger at 800-246-7743.

You can search for therapists, services and help at their website.

U.S. Department of Health Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Behavioral Health Equity Initiative for LGBTQ+ community members. 

The government health service agency promotes grant funding for LGBTQ+ health needs, affirmative research on the behavioral health needs of the community and resource guides for providers to ensure best practices in providing care. 

To learn more about the ways SAMHSA is working towards behavioral health equity for the LGBTQ+ community, visit their website.