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Barry Taylor


Barry TaylorBarry Taylor studied at the Victoria University of Wellington (1990 – 1993) where he got his BA on Sociology and Religious Studies; he later (2007 - 2008) added a study at the University of Otago where he received a Post Grad Dip. Public Health. Currently, he is senior project officer with the National LGBTI Health Alliance in Australia. He heads up a national initiative addressing mental health and suicide prevention in LGBTI communities. Barry Taylor has worked in suicide prevention for 25 years at the local, national and international levels. He was a pioneer in youth suicide prevention in New Zealand leading the first national initiative on youth suicide prevention in 1988. He is known especially for his lecturing, conference presentations and training work in mental health promotion, suicide risk assessment and postvention, loss and grief, spiritually and well-being.
A health sociologist and public health researcher, Barry has a long-term interest in the social determinants of well-being, especially the impact of social exclusion and inclusion on mental health along with the role of human rights in suicide prevention. He is a long-term advocate within suicidology about the suicide within the LGBTI communities and the lack of attention in both research and programmes.
Barry Taylor has a long-term involvement in community development within the LGBTI community beginning with leadership in the establishment of gay and lesbian youth programmes in the 1980s and 1990s in New Zealand. At the same time he worked for ten years in HIV?AIDS serving on national advisory councils and NGOs. He has served in many community leadership roles. Currently, he serves on the board of GLISA and is president of GLISA South-Pacific. In 2011, he was the convenor of the Human Rights Conference for the 2nd Asica Pacific OutGames in Wellington. He has also served in leadership roles in the bear and leather communities.

At the Antwerp conference, Barry Taylor participated in the panel discussion on health in the LGBT World.