Rollins College

The Rollins College Suicide Prevention Project will increase institutional capacity to implement, sustain, and improve effective identification, intervention and prevention services for students at risk for the development of suicidal behavior, serious mental illness, and/or substance related overuse or injury. The primary purpose of this project is to build necessary infrastructure to allow the Rollins Wellness Center to effectively respond to an alarming rate of suicidal ideation and mental illness among students on campus. While this project will aim to address the entire campus’ vulnerability to suicide and substance use disorders, there are several populations identified as being particularly vulnerable. These include a growing number of students of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students; student veterans; and those with pre-existing mental health conditions.

The project’s overall goal of building a comprehensive, collaborative, well-coordinated, and evidence-based approach to suicide prevention will be achieved through six key activities over the three-year period:

  1. creating a network infrastructure to link Rollins College with appropriate care providers from the community;
  2. training gatekeepers (students, faculty, and staff) to respond effectively to those at-risk for suicide
  3. administering effective voluntary screenings and assessments;
  4. providing outreach and information to promote suicide prevention efforts, encourage help-seeking, and increase awareness of crisis resources;
  5. providing mental and substance use disorders prevention and treatment services to college students by employing appropriately trained staff; and
  6. developing and supporting evidence-based and emerging best practices, including a focus on culturally and linguistically appropriate care.

The activities undertaken will support an estimated 3,200 college students, staff, and faculty annually and over 5,000 students throughout the life of the project. The project will focus on the following core strategies: development of an advisory board of on- and off-campus care providers and experts in suicide and mental health; enhancing the existing QPR Gatekeeper program, including the addition of supplemental gatekeeper programs (i.e., Mental Health First Aid); increased promotion of screening tools currently in place; implementation of universal screening for depression, anxiety and suicide ideation at all Rollins Wellness Center appointments; and extensive outreach aimed at increasing help-seeking, decreasing high-risk behaviors such as binge drinking, and increasing awareness of resources. The project will also conduct focus group research with students from identified high-risk populations to increase awareness and understanding of the unique needs, barriers and protective factors of, and most effective strategies for reaching these targeted students. Lastly, the project will adopt evidence-based practices focused on the mental health and well-being of college students of color and train all Wellness Center mental health providers to engage in culturally competent, best practice treatment of suicide, severe mental health and substance abuse.

Riverside San Bernardino County Indian Health

Riverside San-Bernardino County Indian Health, Inc. is the largest tribal health care organization in California. Our project will screen 3,687 medical patients aged 10 to 24 for depression, suicidal ideation, and other risk factors. We will deliver real-time evaluation, education, treatment, and follow-up services to them when needed. We will also train 2,880 youth-serving organization staff members to identify suicide risk and deliver culturally competent intervention. We have established three (3) project goals: 1) increase our capacity to assess, manage, and treat youth at risk of suicide; 2) improve the continuity of care and follow-up of youth at risk for suicide, including those discharged from emergency department and inpatient psychiatric units; and 3) increase the number of youth-serving organizations who are able to identify and work with youth at risk of suicide. To accomplish these goals, we will hire four (4) new clinical staff members who will deliver real-time evaluation, education, referral, and follow-up to youth during their medical visit at our health centers. Using other funding sources, our Behavioral Health Services (BHS) department will: 1) deliver outpatient psychiatric and mental health care to youth and their family members; 2) refer youth to emergency services and other treatment providers; 3) deliver suicide-attempt follow-up; and 4) deliver postvention services to those who have survived a suicide. Finally, we will use two (2) existing staff members, who are professional SafeTALK trainers, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) cultural competency trainers, and ASIST providers. They will train staff members in these approaches at tribal and public schools, universities and colleges, social services and juvenile justice agencies, health care organizations, and other youth-serving organizations. Our project will screen 3,687 (737 each year) unduplicated youth medical patients for depression, suicidal ideation, and other risk factors. We will deliver real-time evaluation, education, treatment, and follow-up services to approximately 988 youth (198 each year) who will screen positive for depressive symptoms in our medical departments. We estimate that 462 (92 youth each year) will receive education and/or brief supportive counseling due to mild symptoms and 527 (105 each year) will receive education and treatment due to moderate to severe depression. To increase community-based youth support and assistance, we will train 2,880 (600 each year) youth-serving organization staff members so they are prepared to identify suicide risk and deliver culturally competent intervention. Finally, we will work with at 120 (24 each year) organizations to integrate our suicide risk screening and intervention services with their programs.

Riverside Community College

Project Abstract Riverside City College’s Student Health and Psychological Services serves almost 30,000 students annually. Current gaps in mental health/suicide prevention services are due to: limited staff; limited education/training for faculty/staff on mental health issues; and failure to connect with underserved students. With SAMHSA funds RCC will execute new suicide prevention activities and interventions to reduce the risk of suicide campus-wide. Project Name: RCC’s SAMHSA Project. Population(s) to be served (demographics and clinical characteristics): The entire population of RCC. Specific populations that will be targeted include: low-income, first generation college students, LGBTQI individuals, disabled students, and veterans. Strategies/interventions: A Mental Health Model for Suicide Prevention. Student In-Crisis: (1) if it is determined that the patient is in crisis the therapist may extend the visit with the student for up to 1 hour; (2) at the conclusion of the visit, the therapist may refer the student to one or all of the following: wellness workshops, and/or refer patient to Community Resources Refer patient to LLUDP services-for follow up appointments; (3) the Campus Police will transport the student to the hospital for a Psychiatric (5150) hold. Student Not In-Crisis: (1) referred to Wellness Workshops (topics include stress management, depression, and health relationships). The Mental Health Therapist offers workshops 5 days/week; (2) referred to Loma Linda Doctoral Psychological (LLDP) trainee who is available M, T, W, and F for 4 hours daily; and/or (3) referred patient to Community Resources: (a) Riverside University Health System-Behavioral Health: One-Stop Shop CARES Line; (b) University Community Health Center; (c) 24-hour Crisis Hotline; (d) 211 or Connectriverside.org; and (e) Housing and Homeless Shelters; and/or (f) National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Project goals: RCC’s goal is to expand mental health services and meet the critical needs of our increasing student population. The overarching goal of this project is to provide a comprehensive public health approach to the issue of suicide prevention. RCC proposes to establish a suicide prevention project that will provide effective gatekeeper and awareness training programs for faculty, staff, and students, and design a crisis intervention plan. Measurable objectives: (1) Train 100 faculty and staff on how to recognize and manage students experiencing mental health distress by end of the grant; and (2) Train 2,000 students to recognize the symptoms of mental health distress by the end of the grant.

Rhode Island Department of Health Violence & Injury Prevention

The Rhode Island Department of Health’s Violence & Injury Prevention Program proposes continued implementation of the Rhode Island Youth Suicide Prevention Project (RIYSPP) to maintain and expand an innovative, comprehensive, and coordinated youth suicide prevention program for RI youth ages 10-24 that builds upon the successes of the past five years. The public health approach presented in this application is informed by the 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the Social Ecological Model (SEM). The Social Ecological Suicide Prevention Model is a four-tier framework that guides the planned activities of the RIYSPP, with corresponding evidence-based suicide prevention strategies implemented statewide and at community, relational and individual levels. Goal 1: Provide early intervention and assessment services and timely referrals to appropriate community-based mental health services for youth at risk for suicidal behaviors by enhancing the current Suicide Prevention Initiative (SPI) and evaluating annually. Goal 2. Train professional staff and individuals in diverse community settings to identify youth who are at risk for suicide and evaluate annually. Goal 3. Work with child-serving professionals and providers to ensure they are trained in youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies and timely response systems, including SAMHSA-sponsored technology and training resources, and evaluate annually. Goal 4. Work with external partners to provide post-suicide intervention services, care, and information to individuals, programs, organizations and statewide systems, solicit input from individuals with lived experiences, and evaluate annually. Goal 5. Conduct a broad public awareness campaign to improve the public’s knowledge of mental health and awareness of available suicide prevention resources in RI. Goal 6. Collect and analyze data on statewide youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies to monitor program effectiveness throughout the 5-year grant cycle. The unduplicated number of individuals projected to be served annually over the project period is estimated at 6,000 individuals ages 10-24 or 30,000 throughout the lifetime of the project. The numbers are based on individuals directly served by project activities that link school districts and the RI juvenile justice system with community- and hospital-based mental health services. The estimated number of individuals served does not include individuals who will benefit from project activities through gatekeeper trainings, technical assistance/support from RIYSPP funded staff or the statewide media campaign. Over the past 5 years, the RIYSPP has demonstrated the ability to leverage support and resources from other state agencies, private/public organizations, and community stakeholders to meet the stated goals and objectives of SAMHSA’s grant funding. The RIYSPP will build on and expand this work to meet the six goals presented above.

Pueblo San Felipe

The Pueblo of San Felipe GLS Tribal Youth Suicide initiative KEYWAH III (Katishtya Embraces Youth Wellness And Hope III) will build on and expand the work of the previous GLS grant initiatives in the community. The purpose is to expand suicide prevention and early intervention strategies in schools, tribal courts, and the tribal behavioral health program, in order to: (1) increase the number of youth-serving organizations able to identify and work with youth at risk of suicide; (2) increase the capacity of clinical service providers to assess, manage, and treat youth at risk of suicide; (3) improve the continuity of care and follow-up of youth identified as at risk for suicide, including those who have been discharged from emergency department and inpatient psychiatric units; and (4) develop infrastructure to sustain & expand programming beyond grant funding. These goals will be accomplished through school-wide prevention programming, universal screening of all students accessing primary care at the School Based Health Center, referral to clinical services for those at risk of suicide, training of gatekeepers (e.g., school staff, teachers, tribal law enforcement) and other child-serving providers on Mental Health First Aid, training primary care providers on Zero Suicide, training clinicians on CBT-SP, and ongoing use of data for continuous quality improvement. The target population is San Felipe youth 10-24 years old at risk for suicide. Over the past 10 years, suicide prevention has become a core priority for the Pueblo of San Felipe, with efforts aimed at implementing the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Goal 8 (promote suicide prevention as a core component of health care services) and Goal 9 (promote and implement effective clinical and professional practices for assessing and treating those identified as being at risk for suicidal behaviors). Although tribal leadership has consistently supported suicide prevention programming in the schools, loss of life due to suicide remains a significant challenge. A recent suicide of an 11- year-old boy enrolled at the San Felipe Elementary School, for instance, highlighted the gaps in collaboration between the Bureau of Indian Education (who runs the elementary school) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (law enforcement). Developing greater collaboration through review of policies and procedures is critical, as is continuing to expand awareness and programming beyond behavioral health providers to other child-serving entities such as Family Services (child welfare/foster care), tribal law enforcement and the schools. KEYWAH III, in alignment and support of the National Tribe Behavioral Health Agenda (TBHA), will, therefore, continue to build and implement strategies where youth at risk for suicide are connected to protective factors and culturally-based supports in the San Felipe community. The unduplicated number of youth served annually will be 225, with 900 served over the life of the grant.

Pomona College

The Claremont Colleges Suicide Prevention Project (TCC-SPP) The Claremont Colleges (TCC or 7Cs) is a consortium
of seven institution with a shared counseling center. Each institution has developed individual approaches to educate
students and their campus communities about substance abuse, suicide prevention, and mental health. TCC and
Monsour Counseling and Psychological Services (MCAPS) recognize that there are an increasing number of students
arriving on campus emotionally underprepared for higher education. Pomona College will be the lead college for this
consortial application. The goals of this project are to develop a coherent comprehensive mental health network to
decrease suicides, suicide attempts, and high-risk behaviors such as substance use. We propose to develop consistent
mental health policies and procedures across TCC, building on the JED Campus Mental Health Model. The project
also aims to increase help-seeking behaviors and increase campus and community capacity to identify and support
students at risk for suicide. Currently, there are approximately 6,000 undergraduates and 2,562 graduate students,
with 57.6 percent female and 42.4 percent male students. MCAPS is experiencing increased demands in services.
Last academic year, one of the TCC experienced a substance use overdose, one suicide, and seventy four alcohol related
hospitalizations. The proposed project aims to strengthen TCC network infrastructure by

(1) Developing more shared resources and programs to increase gatekeepers, to raise mental health and substance abuse awareness,
and to enhance resources that destigmatize help seeking for the approximate 8,562 TCC students

(2) Establishing a JED Campus Advisory Committee with a particular focus on students of color, veterans, first-generation, low-income,
and DACAmented students

(3) Strengthening our clinical provider referral network in the surrounding community by developing a feedback system and a brochure for local hospitals with TCC pre-and post-hospitalization education

(4)Developing and implementing a common peer-based gatekeeper training for faculty, students, and staff to respond
effectively to students with mental and substance use disorder, particularly for first-year students at orientations across
all seven campuses

(5) Fostering targeted collaborations with offices serving specific identity groups in order to create
culturally appropriate training for these groups to identify students at risk

(6) Partnering with student organizations to raise suicide prevention awareness and create a social media campaign to link substance use and mental health.

Online support programs and outreach workshops to help students develop positive coping strategies and resiliency
will complement these activities by implementing TAO and Morneau Shepells International Student Support Program
for international students. We will increase the knowledge of available on-and-off campus resources, with particular
emphasis on the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Objectives will be assessed through annual tracking of numbers
of individuals attending gatekeeper and outreach activities. Our overall intent in implementing TCC-SPP is to shift the
culture of TCC toward a more engaged and responsive awareness that each student matters and is part of a caring
community.

Pensacola State College

Pensacola State Crisis Action Referral Effort for Students (CARES), serves all Pensacola State College (PSC) students in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in NW Florida, including First-Generation-in-College (FGIC) and athletes, but targets military veterans, their family members, and the LGBTQ+ population. The College’s diverse population of students, faculty, and staff will benefit from increased collaboration resulting in the development and delivery of education and awareness materials, and an enhancement of the referral mechanism for at-risk individuals to receive quality treatment services. The overarching goal of the proposed project is to prevent suicide of students attending Pensacola State College and their family members. The objectives of this project are to: 1) update the Crisis Response Protocol; 2) provide clinical services through an on-campus provider, as well as developing clear referral protocols with at least three local mental health providers through Memorandums of Understanding; 3) engage at least 10 community agencies to strengthen the Escarosa Suicide Prevention Coalition and complete a community-wide strategic plan; 4) provide at least 200 (600 over three years) PSC students, faculty and staff each year with training on suicide prevention, mental health and/or substance use disorders; 5) increase in-person opportunities for student to participate in online mental health screenings, as well as promote remote access to such screenings; 6) disseminate awareness and educational information about mental health, substance use disorders, and suicide prevention at no less than 15 on-campus events, reaching at least 500 faculty, staff, and students per year (1500 over three years); 7) provide on-campus trauma-informed clinical services to at least 50 students each year (150 over 3 years); 8) develop a Student Peer Support Network, training at least five students as peer support specialists; and 9) participate in the JED Campus consultation process, resulting in additional measurable objectives applied within a strategic plan to propel the project beyond the grant cycle, with fully sustainable goals within a comprehensive, collaborative, well-coordinated, evidence-based plan. This project will allow PSC to enhance and increase the capacity of an infrastructure that will promote education and awareness. It is estimated that a minimum of 2250 students, faculty, and staff, in addition to family and community members will receive formal education/training annually on suicide prevention and mental health and substance abuse issues through print materials, seminars/workshops, guest speakers, and social media.

Pennsylvania

PA Resource for Continuity of Care in Youth-Serving Systems and Transitions (PRCCYSST – “PERSIST”) will implement a two-tiered approach that includes 1) sustaining and expanding prior statewide youth suicide prevention efforts in schools, colleges, and primary care (Tier 1); and 2) enhancing continuity of care in five regions through training and screening within behavioral health systems to improve care transitions for high-risk youth (Tier 2). Among the more than 2.4 million youth in Pennsylvania between ages 10-24, 51% are male and 49% are female. For youth between 10-19, 69.9% are White (non-Hispanic), 12.7% are Black or African-American (non-Hispanic), and 10.4% are Hispanic or Latino. Statewide data from the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (2017) indicates that 16.5% of PA middle and high school students reported seriously considering suicide and 9.7% reported attempting suicide one or more times within the past 12 months. The five regions that will be targeted for Tier 2 efforts through this project represent 22% of PA counties, yet they account for 55% of suicides in youth ages 10-14, 46% of suicides in youth ages 15-19, and 40% of suicides in youth ages 20-24. Nearly half of the identified counties have higher percentages of non-white and Latino populations than the state, overall. The project has four primary goals, with associated objectives and key implementation strategies. Goal 1 is to promote early identification and referral of youth at risk of suicide in schools, colleges, and primary care (Tiers 1 and 2). PRCCYSST will sustain past prevention efforts and increase the number of professionals exposed to evidence-based training and screening. Goal 2 is to increase capacity among behavioral health providers to screen, assess, manage, and treat youth at risk of suicide (Tiers 1 and 2). PRCCYSST will increase the number of providers trained in evidence-based suicide risk management and family-centered engagement and treatment practices. Goal 3 underscores a targeted approach to expand partnerships to support care transitions, reentry, and follow-up for youth admitted and discharged from hospitals and treatment centers (Tier 2). PRCCYSST will engage existing stakeholder groups in 5 regions (15 counties) to improve communication between county crisis response teams and other youth-serving systems in order to facilitate care transitions. Goal 4 aims to develop a comprehensive and sustainable statewide model for continuity of care based on lessons learned from targeted county-level efforts. PRCCYSST will engage broad stakeholder groups, including several statewide organizations with youth and family members with lived experience to develop a continuity of care toolkit that can be implemented statewide. Based on our success in our last grant and estimates based on future projects, we expect to expose 220,881 individuals to prevention messages, 19,423 to obtain gatekeeper and clinical training, and 15,474 youths to screening. Thus, we anticipate serving approximately 255,778 individuals throughout the course of this project.

Pascua Yaqui Tribe

The Tribal Health Services Department submits this proposal for implementation of a Tribal Youth Suicide Network-TYSN utilizing EB and a zero suicide approach as guides. Native American reservations nationally present with the highest level of trauma, loss with limited resources. Goal: Develop a tribal-wide zero suicide like approach utilizing seven core elements; Lead, Train, Identify, Engage, Treat, Transition and Improve to adapt the current tribal suicide care approach into a comprehensive care network designed to raise awareness of suicide factors, provide early intervention, trainings on enhanced referral processes, treatment, follow up crisis, post suicidal emergencies to improve care and outcomes for youth at risk for suicide. Objective 1 By the end of five year cooperative agreement TYSN will screen over 1,500 youth (ages 10 to 24) provided assessment, early intervention, referral EB treatment and follow up on crisis post suicidal supports to over 400 tribal youth individuals. Objective 2 TYSN will provide Suicide prevention enhancement skills training to up to 50 professional, para-professional staff annually (250 total) and up to 300 community members, parents annually (1500) key factors, awareness and resources for suicidal tribal youth. TYSN will provide services to schools, substance use, mental health foster care and group home agencies. The Sewa U’usim Community Partnership will be the lead agency, with over twelve years’ experience as a tribal Medicaid provider and a SAMHSA System of Care grantee. The tribal partnership; Centered Spirit Mental Health, Community Nursing, Child Protective Services, Foster Care, YK Boys Group Home and the Health Services Division will coordinate services to implement the new cultural Tribal Suicide Network into a Tribal Network of Care. Sewa U’usim (SU) as a cultural community based behavioral health provider and program of the Tribal Health Services Division will directly work towards the implementation of the enhanced, coordinated approach to serve, treat and refer suicidal, GLBT/Bullied youth for health, behavioral health needs. Together TYSN will develop a an enhanced network for the Tribe located 50 miles from the Mexican Border a tribe with a mean age of 19.5 and heighten levels of historical trauma, risk factors for tribal youth and families on the New Pascua Reservation. TYSN will use the cultural, Honoring the Children, Mending the Circle EB model for treatment enhancement and the Wraparound in Indian Country model to engage families. The TYSP will also use social media, live youth presentation, web based training options to enhance outreach. TA support will help TYSN staff select screening and assessment interventions and components for new protocols for tribal services. TYSN will enhance our current efforts through our Native Connections program using Ben’s Bells, Be Kind community awareness campaign and tribal advisory committee to build a network of sustainable consistent treatment program. The TYSN also uses expressive therapies through third party funds to providing; equine, wellness, relaxation and meditation services and an array of services with an aftercare array of cultural, substance use, violence prevention services.

Oswego

The SUNY Oswego Campus Mental Health Development Project intends to engage in the development and coordination of outreach, screening and enhanced therapy supports to reduce suicide risk on campus. This will achieved through the development of working agreements with local community service providers, training for campus staff, and suicide and substance abuse screening of students.