Comunilife’s Life is Precious™ (LIP) program opened in the Bronx, New York, in 2008, as a community defined program, with the goal of providing treatment adjacent services to Latina teens at-risk of suicide. In subsequent years, LIP expanded to include four sites in NYC as well as Poughkeepsie and Yonkers, NY. LIP’s goal is to provide non-clinical activities and services that directly address risk factors associated with Latina adolescent suicide. LIP’s program model is to provide Latina teens impacted by depression, suicide ideation and other mental health challenges a safe afterschool program in a youth positive, culturally competent center with holistic activities.

To be eligible for the program, teens must be between 12 and 18 years old; be enrolled in and regularly attending school; living with suicide ideation, depression or other form of mental illness; under the care of a mental health clinician or willing to enter care; and have parent’s/guardian’s permission to participate in LIP. LIP’s core services include academic support (tutoring, test prep, high school and college admissions prep), licensed creative art therapy (drawing, music, movement), health and wellness activities, and case management services. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, LIP’s services have expanded to meet the escalating COVID-related mental health crisis and the concrete needs of LIP families, including through offering biweekly parent support groups and family ESL classes. For teens categorized as highest-risk (i.e., those with recent psychiatric in-patient admissions or active suicide behaviors), LIP also initiated family therapy and family creative art therapy. All of LIP’s direct services are provided by bilingual/bicultural staff, which include program coordinators, case managers, and outreach workers as well as specialized academic and licensed creative art therapy consultants .

Findings from two quantitative studies provide support for the effectiveness of LIP in reducing suicidal thoughts and behaviors among Latina adolescents, and a qualitative study highlighted improvements in coping skills and social connectedness among LIP participants.