Indiana – Purdue University

The Indiana Cares Youth Suicide Prevention Project is funded by a 3-year Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant under the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Program. It is a project of the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Behavioral Health and Family Studies Institute. It is a sister project of, and builds on the work of, the Indiana Suicide Prevention Coalition.

The core of the Indiana Cares Project is the Youth Suicide Prevention Resource Center. The Resource Center provides assistance and resources to individuals, communities, and agencies across Indiana to prevent suicide among youth ages 10-24. The Resource Center also coordinates the following activities:

• Building the capacity of youth serving systems to reduce the incidence and effects of suicide by targeting the youth serving systems to a) Provide evidence-based suicide prevention and intervention training, along with education about building resilience in youth and families, and b) Develop and institutionalize policies and protocols aimed at suicide prevention, intervention and postvention.
• Providing mini grants to communities/organizations. Priority is given to those serving higher risk populations such as African American, Latino/Latinas, LGBT, rural, incarcerated populations.
• Piloting the Connect! Project, a comprehensive, community-based approach to preventing youth suicide that involves getting all youth serving systems working together (with similar training and protocols) to prevent and respond to youth suicide.
• Helping make suicide prevention efforts around the state more culturally competent through cultural competency workshops across the state and through two specific initiatives: African American Suicide Prevention Initiative and Latino Suicide Prevention Initiative.
• Training mental health and health care providers around the state in the CALM program (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means).
• Conducting two youth suicide prevention-related conferences during the three year grant.
• Raising awareness across the state about suicide prevention via exhibits and conference presentations, a resource library, a website, a social network (“ning”), resource sheets on topics and populations at risk of suicide, and tailored consultation;
• Supporting and building the state network of local suicide prevention councils/coalitions.