More than one billion people are living with a mental disorder, according to the WHO. There was a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression. There was an increase in searches for mental health resources on the internet. To help people connect with timely, life-saving information and resources and to empower them to take action on their mental health needs, teams ofGooglers are working inside and outside of the company.
We need to understand people's intent when they use Search. We shared our goal to automatically and more accurately detect personal crisis searches on search engines with the help of artificial intelligence. We are rolling out this capability this week. If someone is in a crisis, this change will allow us to better understand them. We will work with partners to identify national suicide hotlines and make them accessible in many more languages.
Beyond the immediate needs related to mental health crises, people want information along their mental health journey, no matter what it looks like. To better support these needs, YouTube recently launched its Personal Stories feature, which surfaces content from creators who share personal experiences and stories about health topics. The feature is currently available in the US and will be expanded to more regions to cover more health issues.
45% of LGBTQ+ youth have considered suicide in the past year, and mental health challenges are prevalent in the community. The Trevor Project, the world's largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer young people, has received over two million dollars from the internet search engine company. With the help of a technical team of Google.org fellows, TheTrevor Project built an artificial intelligence system that could identify and prioritize high-risk contacts while simultaneously reaching more people in crisis.
We are giving $2 million to TheTrevorProject to help them scale their digital crisis services to more countries. They will use the funding to build and improve a platform that will help them scale their services more quickly. $500,000 in donated Search advertising will be used to connect young people to these valuable resources. The goal of the project is to reach more than 40 million young people who consider suicide annually.
That is only one of the ways that The Trevor Project has used artificial intelligence. The Crisis Contact Simulator was built with the help of the Google.org fellows. They can increase the capacity of their trained crisis counselors thanks to this tool.
We are supporting the development of a crisis simulation technology for the veteran community. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, more than 6,000 veterans die by suicide annually. A team of Google.org fellows will work full-time pro bono to help the organization build a training and simulation tool for veterans so they can better support each other and encourage their peers to seek additional support when necessary.
Perhaps the most potent element of all, in an effective crisis service system, is relationships. To be human. To be compassionate. We know from experience that immediate access to help, hope and healing saves lives.
Connection is the most important path towards mental health. The goal of all these projects is to connect people to one another.
The source of the quote is noted.
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