The path of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender youth is very often hard and fraught with struggle.
Many are rejected by their parents and caregivers.
When they become young adults (ages 21-25), research led by nationally known social worker Caitlin Ryan shows that they were more than eight times as likely to have attempted suicide; nearly six times as likely to report high levels of depression; more than three times as likely to use illegal drugs, and more than three times as likely to be at high risk for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.
For decades, when families were adversaries to their children, counselors or other professionals provided these young people space from their families.
"It's a sea change, a paradigm shift," Ryan said in an interview from California Tuesday.
Ryan will provide a special training of her model at the University of Connecticut in Storrs on March 21. It's part of the 20th annual True Colors Conference at the Student Union Theater from March 21 through 23.
It has workshops and training to enhance services and support for LGBT youth.
Up to 7 to 10 percent of people identify as LGBT and many are aware of it by the age of 13 or earlier, the same age as heterosexual youth.
Ryan conducted the first study of the impact of family acceptance and rejection on the health, mental health and well-being of LGBT youth and found a compelling relationship between family rejection during adolescence and health and mental health concerns in young adulthood, including illegal drug use, depression, suicidal behavior, sexually transmitted infections and risk for HIV infection.
But she also found how family acceptance and support could help protect against health risks and promote the self-esteem and well-being of LGBT young people.
So her project developed training for health, mental health and school-based providers and others who work with these youth and their families.
It's a new model of care that helps ethnically and religiously diverse families support their LGBT children, decrease their risk for future problems and promote their well-being within their family, culture and faith traditions.
It means helping parents learn accepting behaviors -- as simple as allowing a teen's friend to visit the home to attending a program with the child.
Ryan said she does not expect parents to change their faith, or contradict their beliefs. They can admit they don't understand, but reassure their child that they will be there for them.
"That's a very powerful thing," Ryan said.
For so much of the time, families acted with utter silence or condemnation or rejection or banished them from the home.
"Our work is not to change people's religious beliefs but with accurate information, help parents provide support for their LGBT child and keep their family together," Ryan said. "We know families need information in a way that respects their religious, ethical and ethnic beliefs."
As the world changes, children are self-identifying at a younger age, as young as 7 or 10 sometimes, Ryan said, and parents, at a loss what to do, need help to support their child.
"Our work now means what we have to do is push up stream. We have to get into the early childhood literature and early childcare training," Ryan said, because of the earlier identification.
"For years, tolerance of LGBT youth was the best that adults would do," Ryan said, but now there is a framework to protect these children from harm and promote their well-being.
For more information about the conference or to register: www.ourtruecolors.org
To donate to the Family Acceptance Project, visit their website at http://familyproject.sfsu.edu and select Family Acceptance Project when asked to choose where money should go.