Idaho State Department of Education

The Idaho Lives Project (ILP), a program of the Idaho State Department of Education, serves Idaho’s youth (to age 24) by building resiliency and well-being, creating connectedness and training to intervene with suicidal ideation, and providing services to support youth, families and schools. Through activities targeting youth, ILP will affect all ages of Idahoans with the intent to eradicate suicide in the state. Though it will require effort from all stakeholders in Idaho to accomplish Zero Suicide, with the 2019 Garrett Lee Smith Grant, ILP will provide opportunities for schools to build connectedness and resilience and to ensure youth receive the support they need by adding the Sources of Strength program. The Project will provide for behavioral health clinicians to assess, refer, and provide follow-up care for youth with suicide ideation / attempts, especially in rural areas which may lack access to services, and will provide best-practice postvention support to schools, if needed. Considering that research show young adult attempters benefit from peer-to-peer groups, the behavioral health clinicians will create and co-lead groups for young adult attempters. Suicide loss survivor packets will be provided to schools and families that suffer loos to suicide. As most mental / medical health providers typically receive little suicide prevention training, ILP will contract with David Rudd, Ph.D. to train licensed professionals in assessing and treating suicidal clients in culturally-appropriate ways. This training also will be provided to college mental / medical health program students. Under Goal 2, adults in the schools and other youth-serving organizations will receive gatekeeper training to be able to intervene with and support youth with suicidal ideation. ILP will also provide support to increase text and chat services at the Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline (ISPH). As transition times are difficult for youth and young adults, under Goal 3, ILP will collaborate with Sources of Strength school teams, universities and colleges, and post-high school job-serving agencies to provide templates to increase belongingness and connectedness among youth. Early intervention materials will be sent to elementary schools to augment their social and emotional learning programs. Under Goal 4, ILP will build and maintain partnerships with youth-serving organizations, state agencies, suicide prevention organizations, including the ISPF, the Department of Health and Welfare’s Suicide Prevention Program, and colleges and universities. ILP will also work with SAMHSA- sponsored Technology Transfer Centers to consult on training programs around the Northwest. Under Goal 5, all programs and activities will be monitored, and data collected to ensure fidelity and efficacy. The number of Idahoans serviced by the activities will be a minimum of 1,000 in year one and a minimum of 7,000 by the end of year five. Data collected from the activities and interventions will be regularly evaluated and shared with SAMHSA as well as with ILP stakeholders and adjustments made through continuous quality improvement to assure continued outcomes toward Zero Suicide.