REACH

The Transgender Community of Police & Sheriffs, better known as TCOPS International, and the University of Southern California, Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, have been exploring the need for a crisis hotline/suicide prevention line focused on the LGBTQI+ First Responder Community. This project began in 2022 and involved a problem statement, a needs assessment, and, more recently, a project scope & viability statement.

TCOPS has encountered ongoing concerns with our members who are in a mental health crisis, contacting crisis centers nationwide. LGBTQI+-centric hotlines such as the Trans* Hotline have dissuaded or outright refused to provide critical emergency crisis resources to callers in crisis. Interactions with other LGBTQI+ hotlines became hostile once the caller identified themselves as a law enforcement officer. Similarly, LGBTQI+ law enforcement community members experienced stressful interactions with law enforcement-related crisis hotlines due to disdain and lack of cultural competence from faith-based hotlines & crisis line organizations dedicated to supporting first responders.

The rise of anti-police attitudes combined with the rise of homophobic and transphobic legislation being proposed and passed in many states have created obstacles for LGBTQI+ first responders to access mental health resources. Both LGBTQI+ and first responder hotlines seem disinclined to provide critical mental health, especially crisis services, to members of the TCOPS community.

After researching mental health resources available in the United States, we found there are no similar mental health crisis services for LGBTQI+ First Responders in the FIRE Service, EMS Service, Search & Rescue Teams, or the military. As a result, TCOPS contacted several mental health providers from around the United States, either from the LGBTQI+ law enforcement community or organizations who are LGBTQI+ or law enforcement friendly, seeking partnerships and resources from mental health professionals, their organizations, and companies to assist First Responders from the LGBTQI+ Community.

TCOPS plans to seek grants and private funding to start up, train call-takers, purchase office and call infrastructure, and maintain a crisis hotline for active, retired, and former LGBTQI+ First Responders. Our working organizational name is the acronym R.E.A.C.H., which stands for Rainbow Emergency Aid & Crisis Hotline. We hope to make this a stand-alone entity, incorporated as a non-profit public service crisis hotline providing suicide prevention services.

Email the Project Manager or call 775-98-REACH (775-980-5364)