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LGBTQIA+ people often face discrimination that can make accessing and receiving mental health care more difficult. Healthcare workers may not understand their needs, and negative interactions can make it less likely that people will seek help when they need it. And as the community continues to face discriminatory legislation across the country, both seeking and receiving help are a huge feat in themselves.

Case in point: as of July 17, 2025, the ‘press 3 ‘option of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline—which served to connect LGBTQ+ youth to a gender-affirming counselor—has since been discontinued. While the 988 hotline will remain active, counselors responding may or may not be specifically trained to address the unique mental health needs of this group.

In a recent survey of more than 18,000 LGBTQ+ young people between the ages of 13 and 24, 39% of respondents said that they’d seriously considered attempted suicide in the past year, with 12% attempting. Such findings point to a need for psychological services that are designed to meet the needs of LGBTQIA+ people.

Whether you are looking for help for yourself or are a supportive ally, there are still several mental health resources that can address this need.

Crisis Resources

If you or someone you care about is experiencing a crisis, the following hotlines can help you locate trained counselors, information, and other resources.

Crisis Text Line

Text LGBTQ to 741-741

Texting the Crisis Text Line will connect you to a crisis counselor who can offer support. This resource is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Trevor Project

1-866-488-7386 or text START to 678-678

The Trevor Project is the world’s largest crisis intervention organization for LGBTQIA+ young people under the age of 25. You can reach them by phone, text, or chat 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Trans Lifeline

1-877-565-8860

Trans Lifeline is a service devoted to offering care and support to transgender people. It provides peer support from a place of experience since the organization is staffed by trans individuals. 

LGBT National Hotline

1-888-843-4564

The LGBT National Hotline is for people of all ages and offers a confidential, anonymous place to talk about issues including coming out, identity, bullying, safe sex, anxiety, and other concerns.

Online Resources

There are also a number of organizations that provide resources, education, and other services online. Some of these include:

Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN): Student Action

Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is an organization that offers information designed to help students take action and initiate changes in their schools and communities. Students who are interested in starting a Gender and Sexuality Alliance in their school can register to find resources and learn more about how student-led movements can help foster more inclusive schools for all students.

GLMA Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality

GLMA Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality is an organization that works to connect people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender with welcoming healthcare providers. You can visit the site to search their provider directory to find healthcare professionals in your area.

True Colors United

The True Colors United focuses on ending homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth. In addition to providing learning resources and advocacy, they also provide fundraising guides for those interested in raising money to support LGBTQIA+ youth.

Therapy Services

There are also therapy services that specialize in treating LGBTQIA+ individuals. Online therapy, in particular, is an increasingly important way for people to access affirming therapy that is sensitive to the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning people.

Pride Institute

Pride Institute offers inclusive recovery programs for LGBTQIA+ people. They offer both residential and outpatient treatment programs for substance use and addiction. This treatment provider also offers a family therapy program, a sexual health program, mental health referrals, and telehealth options.

Pride Counseling

Pride Counseling offers online therapy to members of the LGBTQIA+ communities. This service features counselors who not only specialize in helping people who are LGBTQIA+, they also have experience with a range of issues including stress, depression, anxiety, sleep problems, trauma, relationships, self-esteem, and interpersonal conflicts.

Support Groups

PFLAG

PFLAG was the first organization devoted to helping parents, families, and allies support LGBTQIA+ people. Today, the organization supports a network of more than 400 local chapters found throughout the United States. Through their site, you can locate or even start a local chapter of the support organization. 

Q Chat Space

Q Chat Space allows LGBTQIA+ teens to participate in online support groups that are professionally facilitated. All members are verified and the facilitators guide conversations and enforce group rules to ensure safety. The site also offers an option for Spanish-speaking LBGTQIA+ youth.

Youth Resources

Challenges that teens may face include lack of acceptance from their families and bullying by peers, both of which may play a role in increasing the risk of mental health concerns.

Nearly half (49%) of LGBTQ+ young people ages 13-17 had experienced bullying in the past year, with higher rates of attempting suicide among those who’d experienced it. Despite this, only half (50%) of LGBTQ+ young people who wanted mental health care in the past year were able to get it.

Some organizations that offer services specifically for LGBTQIA+ youth include:

It Gets Better Project

The It Gets Better Project works to remind LGBTQIA+ youth that there is hope and that no matter how things might be now, it does get better. The site offers resources and stories from people all over the world to encourage, uplift, and empower young people and to let them know that they are not alone.

LGBT National Youth Talkline

1-800-246-7743

The LGBT National Youth Talkline, provided by the LGBT National Help Center, is aimed at teens and features trained peer counselors who can offer advice and information on topics such as sexual health, coming out, mental health, and other topics. They also feature a national resource database where you can search for youth groups, community centers, and other support resources in your area.

Love Is Respect

1-866-331-9474

Love Is Respect offers resources for teens about healthy relationships and dating violence. The site has a section specifically for LGBTQIA+ teens with information about dating abuse, personal safety, supporting others, and other topics. In addition to providing information about healthy relationships, they also have counselors available to provide support, advice, and education.

The National Runaway Safeline

1-800-786-2929

The National Runaway Safeline works to provide resources and assistance to young people who have run away from home. They also work to help those who feel unsafe in their home or who are thinking of running away. They can provide assistance with transportation, shelter, counseling, and returning home. 

How Mental Health Resources Can Help

The minority stress model suggests that the increased rate of mental health issues among LGBTQIA+ individuals stems from their experiences with rejection and discrimination. The good news is that affirmative peers, social support systems, and professional mental health services can be helpful for people who are experiencing minority stress. 

Having access to support is essential. The Trevor Project 2021 report found that LGBTQIA+ youth who had access to supportive spaces that affirmed their gender identity and sexual orientation had lower rates of attempted suicide. Many young people also reported that despite hardships, they also found strength and joy through things such as representation in media, learning more about LGBTQIA+ history, and therapy. 

Other Ways to Get Help

If you are dealing with a mental health issue, it is important to get help. Discrimination can not only lead to increased risk for mental health issues like depression and anxiety, but it can also affect the amount and quality of support that people may have from their own families. 

You might start by discussing the issue with your doctor, who may be able to recommend a supportive professional in your community. You may also check with some of the resources listed above to find therapists or support groups in your community.

Paying for Online Therapy for Kids

Therapy, even online therapy, can be expensive, especially if the company does not accept insurance or accepts only a small list of insurance plans, such as Little Otter. But other services are in-network with many insurance plans, where you would only be responsible for your copay; and some services offer more affordable monthly subscriptions. Online therapy directories, like Alma, let you search for child and adolescent therapists who accept your insurance or filter your results by how much you can afford to pay out-of-pocket. 

Medication and Online Therapy for Kids

Most online therapy services, even if they offer psychiatry for adults, do not offer psychiatry for children or teens. I’ve included three notable exceptions in this list: Little Otter and Doctor on Demand, which provide psychiatry for children of any age, and Talkiatry, an online psychiatry service that treats kids as young as five.

It’s important to note that most online psychiatry or medication management services will not prescribe controlled substances, such as Adderall for ADHD; the only company on this list that will do so is Talkiatry.

How I Review Online Therapy Services

I’ve spent years testing and surveying real therapy users and reviewing their experiences to help rate and share the best online therapy services. You can see a full breakdown of our online therapy research and testing process on Verywell Mind. Here is an overview of how I capture and evaluate firsthand experience and survey data.

Firsthand Experience

I had 65 different people sign up for talk therapy with all 55 online therapy companies reviewed. Over the past three years, I’ve published 153 reviews (here are our reviews for BetterHelp and Talkspace, for instance). I had my testers try out each company’s therapy services, and if the company offered other services (like couples therapy and kid or teen therapy) we tested those too. 

I asked each tester to try each service for at least a month, which usually meant between two and six sessions at each company. I also asked testers to switch therapists partway through, if possible, in order to get a holistic idea of the offerings and quality of each company. My testers were located all across the United States and abroad, meaning I gained extensive information about each company’s services in a variety of areas.

Evaluating Children’s Services

When choosing which companies to include in this list, I paid particular attention to which ones offer services to children and/or teens, and in each case, had at least one tester try out each company’s child or teen therapy or psychiatry services. I evaluated the experiences my testers and their children had at each company, and highlighted the ones where those services were outstanding.

User Surveys

I surveyed more than 8,000 therapy clients who are currently using one of the 55 online therapy companies tested or who had used one in the recent past, as well as users of 27 different online therapy directories. I asked users to evaluate each company’s services, from their therapist’s qualifications to whether they found a therapist who met all their needs to how they’d rate the company overall—all told, I gathered 350 different data points. 

Why Trust Verywell Mind

Hannah Owens is Verywell Mind’s Mental Health Editor. Hannah is a licensed social worker with a clinical background in community mental health. She’s worked at programs treating those with serious mental illness, providing both individual and group therapy. In her time at Verywell Mind, Hannah has designed and run years of online therapy testing, overseeing and editing reviews of the top online therapy companies out there and writing and editing roundups of the best online therapy services based on our extensive and thorough testing. Hannah brings her unique combination of both clinical and editorial expertise to her work for Verywell Mind.

• Licensed social worker since 2019
• Clinical background in community mental health
• Specializes in serious mental illness
• Believes in the mission of online therapy to make mental healthcare more accessible

Once we completed this testing and these surveys, we evaluated our findings with the help of three licensed therapists—Amy Marschall, PsyD; Nic Hardy, PhD, LCSW; and Hannah Owens, LMSW—in order to make our recommendations. These therapists provided extensive insight into the ethics and efficacy of online therapy as well as information about relevant therapeutic modalities and approaches.