Southcentral Foundation

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.