Muscogee (Creek) Nation

Population Served: American Indian Youth Methods: SBIRT, QPR, ASIST, MHFA, Life Skills Number Served: 3,000 total (600 annually)

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation seeks to forge a comprehensive and integrated suicide prevention system to detect, prevent, and provide collaborative early intervention services to American Indian youth and emerging adults (10-24) who reside within the 11-county area of northeastern Oklahoma served by the tribe. This system shall both expand and enhance the current program and provide the foundation for creating prevention prepared communities, meaningful collaborative partnerships, and delivering effective, efficient, and culturally appropriate services.

The Creek Nation Protecting 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 American Indian youth and emerging adults 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 tribal service area. Further, the Creek Nation shall enlist area communities, area youth-serving agencies, educational institutions, Creek Nation health facilities, and public schools in the planning, assessment, implementation, and evaluation 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 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 at risk.

The project will serve 3,000 American Indian youth over the course of the project. The target population is rural American Indians age 10-24 who are at risk for suicide or suicide behaviors.

Goal 1: To increase the capacity, effectiveness, and efficiency of suicide prevention services for American Indian youth age 10-24 who reside within the area served by the Creek Nation.

Goal 2: To reduce the prevalence suicide and suicidal behaviors among the at risk youth populations (10-24) in Creek Nation.

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