Alexandra Karydi, Ph.D., LMFT

Project 2025 Director: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Dr. Alex Karydi, LMFT, LAC, CSAC, is a licensed therapist that has focused her research and clinical work on the impact of minority stress on LGBTQI populations, focusing on youth navigating their gender identity.

She has a master’s in clinical psychology, postgraduate diploma in research psychology, a Ph.D. in Clinical Sexology, and a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy. She has worked in various systems, including school systems, the justice system, social services, and behavioral health, providing care as a therapist, grant writer, and program manager since 2007. In 2015, she was appointed as the Program Director for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health – Office of Suicide Prevention where she was responsible for establishing the first state office for suicide prevention, embedding Zero Suicide framework in the state mental health care system, and developing the state school suicide prevention program.

In September 2019, she was given the exciting opportunity as the Project 2025 Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a nationwide initiative to reduce the annual rate of suicide in the U.S. 20 percent by 2025.