Grantee Types: Garrett Lee Smith State

Montana seeks to prevent both fatal and non-fatal suicidal behaviors among youth and young adults aged 10-24 years of age. The Montana Youth Suicide Prevention and Intervention Project (MYSPI) provides planning, coordination, and resources to communities so they can address risk and incidences of suicide attempts and completions, and to implement evidence-based programs to reduce youth suicide among Montana’s youth and young adults. To accomplish the goal preventing both fatal and non-fatal suicide behaviors among 10-24 year olds, the following objectives have been identified:

Objective 1: Improve access to and availability of appropriate prevention services for vulnerable youth in up to fifteen communities and one Institution of higher learning

Update:

1. July 06 – Specific criteria for the RFP to be made available to public and private agencies across the state was identified.
2. August 2006, An RFP to fund community and local projects to prevent youth suicide was made public and posted on the Department of Administration website
3. September 1, 2006 Department of Administrative received 14 proposals for community projects in Montana to prevent youth suicide.
4. September 15, 2006 an objective review committee met and discussed, reviewed and scored the proposals
5. September 15, 2006 – 12 communities were notified of grant award for community project to prevent youth suicide.
6. October 1, 2006 –  Entered into contractual agreements with the 12 funded YSP community projects
7. October 24 and 25, 2006 – Training provided to the 12 funded YSP sites on cross-site evaluation and local evaluation by Stacy Johnson, OCR-Macro and Dr. Tim Dunnagan, MSU, Statewide evaluator
8. The 2007 Montana Legislature passed Senate Bill 468 which is intended to fund a Statewide Suicide Prevention Coordinator to coordinate all suicide prevention activities being conducted by DPHHS and coordinate with any suicide prevention activities that are conducted by other state agencies, including the university system.  This bill also has funding to: develop a biennial suicide reduction plan that addresses reducing suicides; provide grants to communities or other entities to start new or sustain existing suicide prevention activities; provide a 24/7 suicide hotline staffed by paid trained employees; and conduct an annual review of hotline utilization and operator performance. Legislative funding is $800,000 for biennium.
9. In August 2007, DPHHS’ YSP prevention coordinator traveled to Missoula to meet with local coordinators from Missoula, University of Montana and Western Montana Mental Health Center in Missoula. A discussion of the provision of parent presentations focused on information about suicide, mental health and talking to their kids about these issues in local communities was facilitated.
10. Facilitated a conference call in September 2007 with 12 funded local contractors. Conference call agenda included 1) evaluation update and helpful hints as they continue to use the evaluation tools, 2) discussion of proposal to accomplish the grant activity of providing community parent presentations and 3) discussion of incorporating deliverables from Senate Bill 468 into existing efforts which will be presented at the next Task Force meeting in November 2007.

Objective 2: Increase access to and community linkages with mental health and substance abuse services throughout the state.

Key Activities

1. December 2005 – DPHHS – CACH Section was designated state lead on suicide prevention to coordinate local Montana programs involved in suicide prevention and intervention
2. January 2006 – DPHHS recruited task force members through letters, telephone calls and newspaper announcements in communities throughout Montana
3. February 2006 – A statewide task force on youth and young adult suicide prevention was established. Appointments were made by the Director of our Department. 
4. With support from Montana’s YSP Project, SPRC presented Suicide Prevention: Community Core Competencies in Helena on Jan. 31 and Feb.1, 2006.  Approximately 50 people from around Montana were trained. Subcommittees of task force formed to discuss, define, develop and recommend guidelines
5. March 24, 2006 – First Youth Suicide Prevention Task Force meeting was held in Helena. Louisa Holmes from SPRC presented to the public health model of suicide prevention.
6. May 12, 2006 – Second Task Force meeting
7. November 6, 2006 – Third Task Force meeting
8. March 22, 2007 – Fourth Task Force meeting
9. November 27, 2007 – Fifth Task Force meeting currently scheduled
10. At all of the Task Force meetings, local communities work together to coordinate existing efforts regarding the issue of youth suicide.
11. Collaboration with TLC YSP grant. In August, Deborah Henderson was appointed to their technical advisory board.  Attended meetings in August and October, 2006, January, April and August 2007.

Objective 3: By the end of the first year of the grant, activities for public information and awareness will be implemented in order to promote awareness that suicide is a public health problem and is preventable.

1. March, 2006, met with executive director of the Montana Mental Health Association re: Public Service Announcements targeting youth. PSAs are being edited and the executive director presented at the Nov. 6 Task Force Meeting.
2. Montana’s State Strategic Plan was distributed at the American Academy of Pediatrics, Montana Chapter meeting in June 2006 and to the Montana Legislature in January 2007.
3. News segment aired with interview with the Project Director on local TV stations after a youth shot him self at school. SPRC guidelines on reporting suicide by the media distributed to major news outlets statewide.
4. DPHHS Montana YSP Project coordinated with the Emergency Medical Services subcommittee to provide SPRC Core Competency Training in Yellowstone County.
5. Numerous local projects support the deployment of QPR and ASSIST as well as other citizen/professional awareness and referral campaigns in those communities where referral resources exist.
6. Two reservation based projects will be providing a skills-based curriculum for middle school-aged students.
7. Several funded community projects will implement the Yellow Ribbon Campaign and student-run prevention awareness campaigns in schools.
8. A link was added to the Department of Public Health’s website for Youth Suicide Prevention: http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/PHSD/family-health/suicide-prevention/suicide-prev-index.shtml
9. The Columbia TeenScreen identification is being conducted by two contractors at the local level which includes a referral and follow-up program within local high schools. Free mental health screenings were also offered in several communities during Suicide Prevention Week in September 2007 and Mental Health Screening Day in October 2007.
10. A suicide prevention panel presented information on the prevalence of suicide in Montana and local prevention efforts during the Montana Mental Health Association Annual conference which was held in May 2007.
11. In July 2007, Montana’s YSP Director presented information on Montana’s grant activities at the National SPAN conference in DC.
12. In September 2007, a suicide prevention panel presented possible policy solutions to the mental health and suicide crisis in Montana during the Montana Public Health Association conference.
13. The Department of Public Health and Human Services entered into a contractual agreement with the Montana Mental Health Association to organize, train and empower youth in Montana to develop a public service announcement around suicide and stigma of mental illness which will be geared toward the youth in our state. A VISTA is working at the Mental Health Association on this project.

Mississippi Youth Suicide Prevention Project, will be utilized to support Mississippi in strengthening and implementing statewide youth suicide prevention strategies through collaboration with youth-serving institutions and agencies such as educational institutions, providers of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, providers of mental health programs, and community based coalitions reaching out to at-risk youth throughout our state.The population of focus will include youth, ages 15-24, throughout MS. The population of focus will also include community level gatekeepers throughout MS. Available, approachable, and accessible community level gatekeepers that blend public and private entities are key to motivating entire communities to take action to prevent youth suicide and promote good mental health. This project seeks to develop broad based support for youth suicide prevention from community level gatekeepers so that prepared community level gatekeepers are engaged in activities that are coordinated and address strategies outlined in Mississippi Youth Suicide Prevention Plan.

Additionally, Mississippi seeks to engage youth in planning and implementing youth suicide prevention strategies, particularly those activities that relate to social marketing and conducting information and awareness campaigns through the use of new media. The Mississippi project will support SAMHSAs goals that include: increase the number of persons in youth serving organizations that are trained to identify and refer youth at-risk for suicide; increase the number of health, mental health and substance abuse providers trained to assess, manage and treat youth at risk for suicide; increase the number of youth identified as at risk for suicide, increase the number of youth referred for behavioral health care services; increase the number of youth at risk for suicide who receive behavioral health care services; and increases the promotion of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Mississippi will maximize our ability to prevent, intervene, and respond to our youth suicide crisis; while striving to achieve the ultimate goal of reducing the incidents of youth suicide in our state.

This project addresses the serious need to strengthen Mississippi’s response to post- Hurricane Katrina mental health needs for youth by implementing an awareness campaign for suicide prevention and intervention, training gatekeepers in effective practices for screening and practitioners in trauma-focused evidence based practices, and facilitating a local infrastructure that will promote access, input, and support.

It is estimated that over 100,000 children in the Gulf Coast region will develop post-traumatic stress disorder and experts in the field of child traumatic stress are concerned about the slow burn of depression that is becoming increasingly evident, especially among teens attempting to recover while displaced from their homes or living in compromised conditions. Priority has been placed on the six Costal counties most directly impacted by the storm and its long-lasting impact. This area remains most vulnerable to youth suicide due to the impacts on socio-economic status and breakdowns in local social and service structures.

Living in these conditions, over two years post-Katrina, has exacerbated the sense of loss and hopelessness for this population and is especially taxing on teens and young adults struggling to attain a sense of identity and relying on their communities to provide normalcy and much needed social supports. This proposal outlines the process for development of, and access to, appropriate youth suicide prevention and interventions. By expanding on the structure of existing local Making A Plan (MAP) Teams and including other key stakeholders in their respective communities throughout the state, we will ensure that information and resources are spread consistently and are inclusive of age, race, ethnicity, culture, language, sexual orientation, disability, literacy and gender diversity in the target population. Reflected, will be the intention of MS to address prevention of youth suicide in a strategic, concerted, and collaborative manner. We are moving forward in a sustained manner transforming how communities prepare for and respond not only to post-disaster mental health needs of our youth but also to the escalating critical concern regarding youth suicide throughout the country.    

NEXT TXT 4 LIFE builds on existing multi-agency collaborations to strengthen suicide prevention efforts which serve 22,000 school-aged youth who live in rural and reservation areas of Northeastern Minnesota. Northeastern Minnesota cover 24% of the State of Minnesota and has 6% of the population. The suicide rate for youth and adults in this area is among the highest in the state, and historically exceeds the state average. American Indian and female youth are particularly at risk. It is estimated that 1400 individual advocates and service providers who deal with youth in crises will benefit from the training and collaboration made possible through this proposal. An estimated 1500 youth will benefit from involvement in at least one level of our suicide prevention response system. Our primary mission is to reduce the incidence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts for NE MN youth by a minimum of 20 percent by 1) Increasing access and utilization among youth of the Minnesota suicide prevention crisis response system by updating infrastructure to include text-messaging to encourage help-seeking behavior, 2) Improving local suicide prevention planning/services and increase protective factors and reduce risk factors among youth though implementation of culturally appropriate, evidence based youth suicide prevention and early intervention strategies, 3) Increasing gatekeeper awareness and understanding of youth suicide, willingness to intervene, and skills for appropriate intervention and referral. Implementation of the proposed suicide prevention strategies will begin in NE Minnesota, including Carlton, Cook, Lake, St. Louis, Aitkin, Itasca, Koochiching Counties and Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Red Lake, and Bois Forte/Nett Lake tribal reservations, and then continue across Minnesota. Proposed strategies include:

• Expansion of local public awareness efforts utilizing social media marketing (i.e. texting)
• Strengthen collaborative infrastructure within the NE Minnesota region
• Development of partnerships in NE Minnesota to expand suicide prevention efforts
• Combine efforts of the student originated “Life is for Everyone” (LIFE), Department of Public Health, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, and Suicide Awareness Voice of Education (SAVE), and Carlton County Suicide Prevention Task force
• Ensure sustainability of youth suicide prevention programs
• Provide leadership and informational training for consumer and community stakeholders
• Continue to provide training for key gatekeepers in recognizing and responding to suicide risk

The Carlton County Public Health, Humans Services Inc./Crisis Connection and Carlton County Children and Family Services Collaborative will take the lead in this initiative. All partners have experience with state and federal grants that have expanded to a regional or statewide area. This suicide prevention proposal builds on the success of a prior initiative funded by the MDH, which first introduced the Question, Persuade, Respond model of suicide prevention in 2009.

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The Suicide Prevention Resource Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), under Grant No. 1H79SM083028-03

The views, opinions, and content expressed in this product do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of CMHS, SAMHSA, or HHS.

Copyright © October 2020 by The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma.  All Rights Reserved.

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Michigan consistently has higher rates of suicide among youth and young adults than the nation as a whole. Building on the foundational work done in the state with previous Garrett Lee Smith youth suicide prevention and early intervention funding, the TYSP-Mi2 Program is designed to impact rates of youth/young adult suicide by state level and local systems changes that embed suicide prevention as a core priority for health and human services agencies.

The purpose of the TYSP-Mi2 program is to develop, implement, and support a comprehensive, sustainable statewide approach to youth suicide prevention and intervention that is grounded in public/private collaboration among youth serving agencies and organizations. There are five program goals:

• Goal 1: Generate state-level systems change that advances and sustains youth and young adult suicide prevention as a core priority in statewide systems and ensures that these systems employ best practices for suicide prevention.
• Goal 2: Develop urban and rural “Youth Suicide Prevention (YSP) Model Communities” as replicable prototypes that move beyond community awareness to implementation of sustainable best practice approaches that span the continuum of suicide prevention and intervention.
• Goal 3: Ensure a well-educated cadre of gatekeepers and clinical service providers within Michigan’s youth serving workforce that consistently uses evidence-based approaches for suicide prevention.
• Goal 4: Support local community development across the state around youth suicide prevention.
• Goal 5: Develop a comprehensive statewide surveillance system for non-lethal suicide behaviors and deaths by suicide in order to characterize youth and young adult suicide in Michigan, identify risk factors and potential points of early intervention, track trends over time, ascertain potential clusters, and contribute to the evaluation of program impacts.

Populations of focus include foster care youth, child protective services involved youth, and clients of Child and Adolescent Health clinics, all of whom are known to have multiple risk factors for suicide. Child Welfare and clinic staff will be trained as gatekeepers using safeTALK, ASIST and AMSR will be offered across the state to help strengthen the network of persons able and willing to help a youth/young adult in crisis. The program will also work intensively with at least two communities to develop state specific replicable urban and rural models that demonstrate how to do systems change work to create suicide safe communities with “no wrong door” for youth/young adults at risk of suicide. The TYSP-Mi2 program proposes to serve over 2,000 persons/year and almost 13,000 over the life of the grant. Government and non-governmental work groups will advise the program and each other about what systems change work needs to be done across the state at all levels to assure a “Suicide-Safe Michigan” for youth and young adults.

The Transforming Youth Suicide Prevention in Michigan (TYSP-Mi) Program is working to engage programs and individuals to expand suicide prevention in the state and more strongly emphasize primary prevention and early intervention. The Program will a) provide technical assistance and grants to local communities for program development and delivery; b) maintain strong gatekeeper and mental health professional training programs; and c) work to build a strong state infrastructure to support programming in the future.
Specific program activities include:

• Ongoing support through grants to eight communities to develop or enhance comprehensive local prevention and early intervention efforts.
• A Technical Assistance Program, including an annual two day technical assistance meeting, for communities not receiving grant funds to assist them with building the skills and knowledge to strengthen or initiate local efforts.
• Providing AMSR and ASIST trainings in regions of the state where trainings are currently not available.
• Building a planning and advisory structure specifically for youth suicide prevention in Michigan.
• Engaging other state departments in determining the role of state government in suicide prevention.

Mental Health America’s proposed suicide prevention program is a state-sponsored initiative that will implement early intervention and prevention programs in schools, colleges, substance abuse systems, mental health programs, foster care systems, and other child and youth support organizations. It is based on the South Carolina Suicide Prevention Plan, a state plan created by a public and private organization partnership. The project’s purpose is to reduce suicide attempts and completions in South Carolina for youths aged 10-24. Specifically, the program will 1) implement the Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) suicide prevention training in the schools, universities, and to community gatekeepers; 2) Provide crisis resources to suicide attempters crisis access points (e.g., emergency rooms); 3) establish Survivors of Suicide support groups in the counties within three SC regions; 4) create a Statewide Suicide Prevention On-Line Resource Guide which will include pertinent resource information for assessment, treatment providers, survivors? support groups and other resources for individuals and families; and 5) promote suicide education and awareness through a public outreach campaign.

With suicide as the third leading cause of death among youth and with the increase of 109 percent from 1980 to 1997, youth suicide prevention and early intervention strategies must be creative and effective in tackling the issue of youth suicide. The national average rate of suicide for ages 10 to 24 is 6.78 per 100,000 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). While South Carolina?s overall rate of 5.1 does not exceed the national average, specific regions within the state are in dire need of services. The Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) divides the state into eight regions for service provision and statistical analysis. Compared to the state’s relatively low youth suicide rates, three of these regions have remarkably high rates. Based on the South Carolina?s mortality and morbidity statistics, the average rate from 1999 to 2004 is 7.9, 7.7, and 8.5 in Regions 1, 2, and 3 respectively.

Mental Health America will continue a public-private partnership with the SC Suicide Prevention Coalition, which has been involved with suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention activities since 2003. The Coalition helped develop the state suicide prevention plan and will serve as an ad-hoc steering committee to provide oversight and feedback to the project. The 23 local Mental Health America affiliate partnerships will be utilized in the suicide prevention activities. Additionally, project staff will partner with the University of South Carolina to deliver and evaluate culturally competent program content.

Maryland’s Linkages to Life Youth Suicide Prevention Program proposes an array of promising awareness, intervention, and postvention services for the entire State of Maryland. Special focus is placed on enhanced efforts in rural counties where mortality rates are highest in the State. The program is founded on a partnership of State and local government agencies, Medical Schools at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, and numerous private sector partner agencies. The goals of the project are directly from the State’s Youth Suicide Prevention Plan: 1) AWARENESS-Maryland youth, their families and the professionals who work with them understand that suicide is preventable; 2) INTERVENTION-Culturally competent, effective and accessible community based intervention services and programs for youth are in place; 3) POSTVENTION-Effective, culturally competent professional services are accessible to youth who have attempted suicide and/or to other people affected by the suicide attempt or completion. The project will conduct broad State and local infrastructure development and service improvements in local schools statewide, providing enhancements related to suicide prevention within the state’s Health Curriculum for students in the 8th grade and high school. An estimated 28,000 students are expected to take these courses. The project will also provide statewide training for a wide variety of educational personnel, including teachers, administrators, and those in the pupil support and paraprofessional workforce on suicide prevention and intervention. Local partnerships of schools, behavioral health authorities, juvenile justice and child welfare officials, and a wide range of private providers and advocacy groups will be created.