Comunilife, Inc.

Comunilife's Life is Precious™ (LIP) program provides suicide prevention activities to NYC Latina teens who have seriously considered or attempted suicide. The girls, who range in age from 12 to 18, are immigrants or first generation Americans and live in some of New York City's lowest-income neighborhoods; all are living with depression or other diagnosed mental illness. LIP has four program locations - the Bronx (2008), Brooklyn (2009), Queens (2015) and Washington Heights (Manhattan) (2019). In 2019, 178 Latina teens accessed services. To be eligible for LIP the teens must be enrolled in school, under the care of a mental health clinician and have parents/guardians’ permission.

Latina adolescent suicide has reached epidemic proportions in New York State with suicide the second leading cause of death for Latina teens. The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, released in August 2020, stated that in New York City 18.5% of Latina teens seriously considered and 9.4% attempted suicide in 2019. In Brooklyn, 21.2% seriously considered and 9.2% attempted suicide during that same period.

We know that there are multiple contributing factors that result in young Latina teens attempting suicide. Research findings show that family conflict, acculturation, stress, domestic/sexual abuse, academic failure, bullying and anti-immigrant sentiment; coupled with the stigma of mental illness and the lack of culturally competent mental health providers are the major contributing factors.

To date, more than 400 Latina teens have participated in LIP not one of whom has completed suicide. LIP's accomplishments are measured by the positive results achieved by the girls. This is validated by an evaluation which has been conducted, since 2013, by the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University - New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence. The research has shown that for every month a Latina teen participates in Life is Precious™ her level of suicide ideation and depression decreases. For Latina teens with a history of sexual abuse and/or drug and alcohol use, the decrease in suicide ideation and depression were more profound. Comunilife’s goal is to show that Life is Precious™ is a community informed, evidenced based model of care. Researchers from the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University have completed phase one of the evaluation where fidelity testing took place and a manual of operations was developed. Phase Two, which is working with control groups, is currently in process.

We know that LIP is achieving these successful results for the following reasons:

1) LIP is a community informed program which directly addresses the risk factors associated with Latina adolescent suicide
2) LIP provides culturally competent services that integrate cultural norms into all program development
3) LIP incorporates the entire family to reduce the risk of suicide among Latina teens.