Tia Dole, Ph.D.

President and CEO, Mental Health America

Dr. Dole is a licensed clinical psychologist and a long-time passionate advocate for the rights of those with intersectional identities.

Her immediate previous role was Executive Director of The Steve Fund, the nation’s only organization focused on the mental health and emotional well-being of young people of color.

Also, Dr. Dole was Chief Clinical Operations Officer at The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth. Dr. Dole oversaw all of The Trevor Project’s crisis services programs, as well as their volunteer community, and increased their impact by a factor of four.

Since becoming the 988 Lifeline’s Chief Officer in 2022, the network’s answer rate has risen to 90%. And with over 25 million total interactions with help seekers by phone, chat, and text in this time, including a well-documented reduction in youth suicide, Dr. Dole’s aim for the nation’s largest suicide prevention network is to “upstream suicide prevention” by welcoming and encouraging help seekers to reach out to 988 before they are in crisis.

Dr. Dole’s mission is to end suicide in the United States, and she believes it’s possible.