Grantee Types: Garrett Lee Smith Tribal

The mission of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST) Okolakiciye Unyukinipi, “Revitalizing our Societies), Oniyapi Program is to reduce youth suicide attempts and death by suicides among youth and young adults between the ages of 10—24 years old on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation by identifying and increasing referrals of suicidal youth to existing Mental Health resources; enhancing access to services; decreasing suicide risk factors; and increasing youth protective factors. Approximately 1500 youth will be targeted for services, education and intervention. This will be accomplished through a collaboration of service providers, community members, youth, and faith community and the implementation of a comprehensive tribal suicide prevention and early intervention plan.The goals are 1.) To reduce youth suicides by 25% on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation by increasing identification and referral of suicidal youth to existing Mental Health resources and enhancing access to services; and 2.) To address and decrease the suicide risk factors and increase protective factors for the youth on the Standing Rock Reservation. The program objectives include providing school and community-based gatekeeper training; screening for suicide risk, depression and substance abuse; developing a crisis response team and suicide hotline; implementing a public education campaign; updating the Standing Rock Suicide Prevention plan; implementing an American Indian Life Skills Development intervention; providing youth development and cultural activities; and implementing postvention support and follow-up for suicide survivors and crisis first responders.

The Standing Rock (SR) Tribal Health Department, which includes Suicide Prevention and Health Education, will administer the program in partnership with the SR Suicide Prevention Task Force comprised of the SR Health, Education & Welfare (HEW) committee, Tribal Child Protection, SR Community Grant School, Sitting Bull College, SR Law Enforcement, and SR 1.H.S. Hospital and Behavioral Health, Tribal Court, SR Chemical Prevention and other child and family serving agencies.

The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention Program will implement regional prevention and early intervention strategies and culturally respectful activities through collaboration with community and tribally based organizations and oriented towards strengthening the youth, families and communities in Southeast Alaska. There are a total of 73,302 residents, consisting of 45 communities ranging in size from 30,711 (Juneau) to 19 (Port Alice, on Prince of Wales Island. Alaska Native people make up 20% of the population. The target population for this project will be the over 12,370 Alaska Native/American Indians and 6,000 non-Natives that SEARHC serves, for a total of 18,370 people. It is anticipated this program will directly serve 12,498 people the first year and 17,781 people throughout the lifetime of the project. Unintentional injury is the 3rd leading cause of death Alaska Native people, suicide is the 4th leading cause of death and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis is the 7th leading cause of death.? SEARHC will address these related causes of and youth suicide prevention as follows:

Goal 1-Increase awareness and discussion among youth, families and the community members about the risks of suicide.
Objective 1.2 Develop a suicide prevention task force in each community that is made up of youth, parents, teachers, service providers, elders, traditional leaders and others.
Goal 2-Increase the promotion of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and conduct a media campaign concerning suicide prevention.
Objective 2.1 SEARHC will distribute written advertisements, radio and newspaper public service announcements, regular press releases, and print ads promoting hotlines.
Goal 3-Increase awareness of suicide and teach various appropriate responses to those at risk of suicide by strengthening the traditional and cultural values.
Objective 3.1 Raise regional awareness about depression and suicide by conducting a thorough and culturally competent social marketing media campaign.
Goal 4-Increase the number of persons in youth serving organizations such as schools, foster care systems, juvenile justice programs, trained to identify and refer youth at risk for suicide.
Objective 4.2 Work with youth serving organizations to select and provide the appropriate culturally competent identification and referral Evidence Based Practice for use in training staff.
Goal 5-Increase the number of SEARHC staff from the health, behavioral health, dental, optical and substance abuse divisions that are trained to assess and treat or refer youth at risk for suicide.
Objective 5.2 Provide on-site training to SEARHC health care providers on the implementation of the culturally competent Evidence Based management and treatment practices aimed at identifying, assessing and treating or referring at risk youth.

The Southcentral Foundation seeks to forge a comprehensive and integrated suicide prevention system to detect, prevent, and provide collaborative early intervention services to ALASKA NATIVE/ AMERICAN INDIAN youth and emerging adults who reside within the area of Alaska served by the Southcentral Foundation Anchorage and contiguous areas. This system shall both expand and enhance current prevention efforts and shall provide the foundation for creating prevention prepared communities, meaningful collaborative partnerships, and delivering and sustaining effective, efficient, and culturally appropriate services.

The Southcentral Foundation (SCF) Preserving the Future project shall define the need for services, the gaps between needed and available services, barriers to care, and other problems related to the need to implement suicide prevention and early intervention activities for Alaska Native and American Indian (ALASKA NATIVE/AMERICAN INDIAN) youth and emerging adults, age 10-24, at risk of or currently experiencing issues that may lead to suicide. The project shall increase the number of individuals and clinical providers trained to identify, assess, and manage youth at risk for suicide within the service area. Further, the Southcentral Foundation shall enlist area communities, area youth-serving agencies, educational institutions, health facilities, and public schools in the planning, assessment, implementation, and evaluation phases of this project. The result will improve the continuity of care, increase utilization of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and further implement the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

The major outcomes of the project include: Immediately increase the number of AI/AN youth identified as at risk for suicide; increase the number of youth referred for services; increase the number of youth who receive services; increase the number of youth-serving individuals trained to identify, refer, assess, manage, and treat youth; systems change; and further promote the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and implement the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Goal 1: To increase the capacity, effectiveness, and efficiency of suicide prevention services for ALASKA NATIVE/AMERICAN INDIAN youth
age 10-24 who reside within the area served by the Southcentral Foundation.

Goal 2: To reduce the prevalence suicide and suicidal behaviors among the at risk youth populations (10-24) in the area served by Southcentral Foundation.

Goal 3: To promote systems change at the organizational / institutional level to embrace suicide prevention as a core strategy.

The Shingle Springs Tribal Health Programs suicide early intervention and prevention project will include the QPR gate keeper training in suicide prevention for a wide variety of organizations and individuals over the grant period.  It is anticipated that the QPR gatekeeper training program will increase the number of trained gatekeepers by over 300 persons. Additionally the program will train more community members through the classroom trainings to be offered to teachers and then to students themselves. Since friends of at risk youth often maintain a code of silence that prevents adults from discovering suicidal thoughts in time to conduct an intervention, the classroom trainings may prove to be the most important deterrent to suicide attempts. Once the community at large is trained to recognize the signs of suicide and depression, the number of youth identified as being at risk for suicide and referred to behavioral health services will increase.

The purpose of the Sault Tribe Alive Youth (STAY) Project is to develop and implement a tribal youth suicide and early intervention plan for the eastern and central Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to help our youth stay alive. The STAY Plan will be based on the National Suicide Prevention Plan but will be customized to address the unique needs of Native youth in a rural setting and reflect the significant Native American population of the region.

Suicide is a preventable tragedy which has, unfortunately, impacted our tribal community across the eastern and central Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We have experienced suicide clusters among our young people. The seven counties our tribal service area have a suicide rate for 2006 of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to the State of Michigan suicide rate of 11.2 for the same time period and the national rate of 10.8. Clearly, our region is in need of help.

Our Tribe has recognized the need to work with our tribal and non-tribal stakeholders to develop and implement broad-based, culturally competent suicide prevention and early intervention programming. Our stakeholders are called the Seven Feathers Partnership Board and include representation from elected leaders and policy-makers; schools including higher education institutions; health care providers including mental health and substance abuse; community agencies and organizations; the juvenile justice system, the foster care system; and the spiritual and faith-based healers.

The focus populations of our program are: (1) Native American youth ages 10-18, (2) Native American youth ages 18-24, (3) Teacher education students attending our regional colleges and universities and likely to become teachers of our youth, and (4) Parents and family members of our youth.

The STAY Project goals and objectives align with the national strategies and the Suicide Prevention Plan for Michigan. We are working hard to increase our community�s leadership capacity. Our Seven Feathers Partnership Board has identified and is in the process of addressing barriers which are preventing youth from accessing mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention services.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will establish the Wiconi Wakan (Sacredness of Life) Health & Healing Center, a place to implement the Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Project plan targeting Rosebud Sioux children and youth (ages 10-24) on the Rosebud Sioux reservation. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe does declare the youth sacred (Wakan) and a vital asset to the people of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate. Suicide has created a destructive ripple in the very structure of Lakota Sioux society; effects will be felt for generations to come, the WWHH Center will provide the venue for reviving the life of our people. The overall goal of the project is to strengthen and develop culturally and linguistically appropriate youth suicide prevention and early intervention services for the Rosebud Sioux and be informed directly by consumers, parents, youth and providers within the Rosebud Sioux reservation. The goals of the program include: (1) The Rosebud Sioux Tribe Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Program will increase awareness of the signs of suicide among community, provide community outreach to parents and youth by working collaboratively with other agencies, providers and organizations to share information and resources by promoting awareness that suicide is preventable. (2) Implement a culturally appropriate youth suicide prevention and early intervention and post-vention program. This level of intervention will include screening programs, gatekeeper training for adult caregivers and peer natural helpers, support and skill building groups for at-risk Rosebud Sioux youth, and enhanced accessible crisis services and referrals sources. (3) The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will implement the public health approach to suicide prevention as outlined in the Institute of Medicine report, Reducing Suicide: A National Imperative.

This SAMHSA funded project supports, expands, and enhances suicide prevention efforts within the 3 communities of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation. The proposed objectives build on suicide prevention activities completed by the Pyramid Lake Suicide Prevention Task Force and the Pyramid Lake Meth and Suicide Prevention Initiative over the last 5 years. This grant would allow the Tribe to take the next step in suicide prevention by expanding the community-based suicide prevention program.

Dr. Charles W. Grim, Director of Indian Health stated in a speech before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, that Suicide is not a single problem; rather it is a single response to multiple problems. Neither is it a strictly clinical or individual problem, but one that affects and is affected by entire communities.? This holds true in Indian Country.

Nevada has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, consistently ranking in the top 5. Suicide also deeply affects Tribes in Nevada. Between 1999 and 2007, suicide was the third leading cause of death for Native Americans and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) age 10-44 living in Nevada, resulting in 35 deaths. While the number of deaths is small and caution must be exercised when drawing conclusions, the crude rate and age-adjusted rate for Nevada AI/AN is nearly double the all U.S. rate for the same age group.

While data sources for suicide are limited for the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Police Department statistics are available. Between 2004 and 2010, the Police Department responded to 21 calls relating to suicide on the Reservation. This number only represents suicidal incidents when authorities were notified, it is likely that the actual number of suicide events (ideation, attempts, and completions) is much higher.

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe recognizes suicide is a serious public health on the Reservation and is committed to reducing the incidence of suicide by supporting suicide prevention efforts among Native youth by achieving the following:

• Completing a community needs assessment to identify primary prevention needs;
• Increasing the capacity of Health Clinic staff to identify youth at risk of suicide, linking youth to resources;
• Building capacity of students at Natchez Elementary and Pyramid Lake Jr./Sr. High School to deal with stressful situations by implementing a life skills building curriculum.
• Drafting a comprehensive, culturally appropriate suicide prevention plan to include sustainability measures which will ensure objectives are continued after the funding period; and
• Improving suicide data collection efforts of the Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Clinic and other Tribal Departments.

Kathishya Embraces Youth, Wellness, and Hope (KEYWAH) seeks to implement Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), the Natural Helpers Program, the Columbia TeenScreen, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Approach for Suicide Prevention, and a culturally modified Project Venture program known as Kathishya Youth Leadership Institute (KYLI) with San Felipe (SF) youth between the ages of 13-18. The goals and objectives of the program are to first: expand capacity to serve adolescents at-risk for suicide and their families with the following objectives: train SF behavioral health providers on CBT-SP and TeenScreen, increase access to psychiatric consultation and wraparound services, train school staff and SF community members in ASIST, train in 3 schools to implement Natural Helpers Program, and enroll SF youth in KYLI. The second goal is to foster increased cross-agency and private/public collaboration. Objectives associated with this goal are: develop MOAs between schools and the SF Behavioral Health Program, further develop referral system for youth from schools and other community programs to Behavioral Health Program, establish KEYWAH Taskforce to serve as SF tribal suicide prevention coalition, and continue to build and utilize Multidisciplinary Team. The third goal is to ensure a prevention prepared community through social marketing and training so community members understand the importance of recognizing and reacting to risk factors related to suicide. Objectives associated with this goal are: train a wide representation of SF members in ASIST, conduct suicide prevention outreach campaign in the Pueblo community utilizing digital storytelling by SF youth, use social marketing to increase awareness and reduce stigma (e.g., tribal newsletters ads, billboards, etc.), and promote awareness of National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK. The fourth goal is to utilize a Continuous Quality Improvement framework to provide feedback on the unique implementation strategies for the Pueblo. Objectives associated with this goal are: gain stakeholder input through KEYWAH Taskforce, use evaluation data to inform the projectâ€‖s activities, make changes, and document outcomes, and continuously bring data back to the community from the SAMHSA National Cross Site Evaluation. The fifth goal is to develop a sustainability strategy to ensure continuation of the model long after grant funding ends. Objectives associated with this goal are: develop capacity to continue suicide prevention services beyond grant, develop capacity at SF Behavioral Health Program to provide services, and ensure funding for suicide prevention services through Medicaid or other funding source. It is anticipated that 290 individuals will participate in all services in year one, and 280 in years two and three, resulting in 850 served over the life of grant.