The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a national, federally funded network of local crisis centers providing suicide prevention and intervention services through a toll-free telephone number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Its mission is to provide immediate assistance to individuals in suicidal crisis by connecting them
to the nearest available crisis
center in their area. For more
information, you can visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

Description:

Visit our Canadian partner's site Honouring Life Network

• American Indian Life Skills Development Curriculum - The American Indian Life Skills Development (American) curriculum is a school-based, culturally tailored, suicide prevention curriculum for American Indian adolescents. Tailored to American Indian norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes, the curriculum is designed to build self-esteem; identify emotions and stress; increase communication and problem-solving skills; and recognize and eliminate self-destructive behavior, including substance abuse. The curriculum provides American Indian adolescents with information on suicide, suicide intervention training, and helps them to set personal and community goals.
  
     American Indian Life Skills Development Curriculum
     Zuni Life Skills Development (PDF)
     American Indian Life Skills Development
  

 
• The ASIST Program is currently being used across Indian Country, in communities such as Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, ND & SD, Warm Springs Tribe, Oregon, and other Tribes. They have also partnered with the State of New Mexico, and IHS Albuquerque Area Office to provide trainings for the Tribes in that Area. It is the most widely used suicide prevention program in the world. ASIST is a two-day workshop designed to provide participants with gatekeeping knowledge and skills. Gatekeepers, as they are called after training, are taught to recognize the warning signs of suicide and to intervene with appropriate assistance.
  
     Living Works ASIST
     Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Trainings Matrix (PDF)
     Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
     Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)



• Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk: Core Competencies for Mental Health Professionals—The Suicide Prevention Resource Center and the American Association of Suicidology have developed a new workshop for mental health professionals and other care providers to help them assess and manage suicide risk. The Center is offering the one-day workshop to communities around the country willing to sponsor the event, which draws on the expertise of the most prominent leaders in the field and offers continuing education credit.



• C-Care/CAST is a school based program for students at-risk for suicide. It combines a one-on-one counseling with a series of small-group training sessions. C-Care (Counselors-Care) provides an interactive, personalized assessment and a brief motivational counseling intervention.
  
     C-Care/CAST (PDF)
   
• The Center for Native American Youth is committed to improving the health, safety, and well-being of Native American youth and, in particular, to preventing youth suicide. Founded by former U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, the center aspires to develop meaningful partnerships with tribal governments and organizations. The Center will hold youth summits and roundtables throughout Indian Country to bring together youth, tribal leaders, key partners, and experts to discuss the challenges these young people face and best practices on how to respond to those challenges.



• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Adolescent Depression is a developmental adaptation of the classic cognitive therapy model developed by Aaron Beck and colleagues. CBT emphasizes collaborative empiricism, the importance of socializing patients to the cognitive therapy model, and the monitoring and modification of automatic thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs
  
     Intervention Summary: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescent Depression
   
• The Columbia University TeenScreen Program (for screening) has been provided training to numerous Tribes and Tribal health organizations across the Nation. The purpose of the Columbia TeenScreen (CTSP) is to identify youth who are at-risk for suicide and potentially suffering from mental illness and they ensure they receive a complete evaluation. While screening can take place in any number of venues, including juvenile justice facilities, shelters, and doctor’s offices the program has been primarily conducted in school settings.
  
     Columbia University TeenScreen Program Website
     Columbia University TeenScreen Program (PDF)
   
• The Community Readiness Model is based on the premise that communities, using a step-by-step method can be moved through a series of stages to develop and implement effective prevention programs. The first step is to form a responsive local team and prepare them to use the readiness model. The next step for the team is to determine their community’s stage of readiness for the particular problem involved. This model has been used by American Indians and Alaska Natives to address a variety of issues, such as suicide, HIV, intimate partner violence, and others.
  
    Community Readiness Model (PDF)
    HIV Handbook (PDF)
    View Website
  
  Contacts:
    Pamela Jumper-Thurman, Ph.D.
    Director
    National Center for Community Readiness
    Ethnic Studies Department
    350 Aylesworth Hall SE
    Ft. Collins, CO 80523–1790
    Pamela.Thurman@ColoState.Edu
    Phone (800) 642–0273
  
    Barbara Plested, Ph.D.
    Co-Director
    National Center for Community Readiness
    Ethnic Studies Department
    355 Aylesworth Hall SE
    Ft. Collins, CO 80523–1790
    Barbara.Plested@ColoState.Edu
    Phone (800) 642–0273
  
    Martha Burnside, B.A.
    Research Associate
    National Center for Community Readiness
    Ethnic Studies Department
    352 Aylesworth Hall SE
    Ft. Collins, CO 80523–1790
    Martha.Burnside@ColoState.Edu
    Phone (800) 642–0273
   
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a cognitive-behavioral treatment approach with two key characteristics: a behavioral, problem-solving focus blended with acceptance-based strategies, and an emphasis on dialectical processes. "Dialectical" refers to the issues involved in treating patients with multiple disorders and to the type of thought processes and behavioral styles used in the treatment strategies.
  
  Intervention Summary: Dialectical Behavior Therapy
   
• The Jason Foundation, Inc., is a nationally recognized provider of educational curriculums and training programs for students, educators/youth workers and parents. JFI’s programs build an awareness of the national health problem of youth suicide, educates participates in recognition of “warning signs/signs of concern,” provides information on identifying at-risk behavior/elevated risk groups, and directs participates to local resources to deal with possible suicidal ideation.



• Means Matter—Most efforts to prevent suicide focus on why people take their lives. But, how a person attempts suicide–the means he or she uses–can determine life or death. “Means reduction” is the goal of a new campaign from the Harvard Injury Control Research Center called Means Matter. The Center argues that reducing teen access to more lethal means of suicide, such as firearms, saves lives.



• The National Center for Suicide Prevention Training is a free, online educational resource to help public officials, service providers, and community-based coalitions develop effective suicide prevention programs and policies. The Center offers four workshops on:
  • research showing suicide is a preventable public health problem,
  • locating and presenting youth suicide data,
  • planning and evaluation for youth suicide prevention, and
  • suicide prevention “gatekeeping.”


• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK) and (1-800-SUICIDE) Native American Community Initiative
  Goal: to strengthen communication and collaboration between Lifeline network crisis centers and the communities they serve where there are populations of indigenous people (see attachment).
  
     www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
     National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Native American Community Initiative
     The Role of Hotlines in Suicide Prevention (PPT)
     Lifeline Native American Initiative (PDF)
   

  National Contact Heather Stokes, LCSW Director, Certification and Training National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (212) 614-5703 hstokes@mhaofnyc.org

  
   
• Native H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People Endure) – offers a training of facilitators program. The purpose of the Native H.O.P.E. Training of Facilitators (TOF) manual is to prepare American Indian/Alaska Native/First Nations individuals to strengthen their Facilitation and Leadership skills so that they can replicate the curriculum successfully in their communities and reduce suicide among our most precious and sacred resource, our children and youth. The overall goal of the Native H.O.P.E. Training of Facilitators (TOF) is to strengthen the capacity of American Indian/Alaska Native/First Nations teens and young adults to help each other, their families, schools, and communities by using their “Sources of Strengths,” including culture and spirituality, to break the “Code of Silence,” and unhealthy multigenerational cycles. The overall outcome of the Native H.O.P.E. Training of Facilitators (TOF) is to create a “Call-to-Action” among Native youth and adults from their communities to develop and implement a Strategic Action Plan that greatly reduces suicide and the contributing factors including depression, substance abuse, violence and exposure to trauma.
  
  Contacts:
    Accessing Native American Trainig (ANAT)
    Clayton Small, Ph.D.
    10328 Chandler NW
    Albuquerque, NM 87114
    Claytonsmall@aol.com
    Phone (505) 897-7968
    Cell (505) 321-2808
  
    Ernest Bighorn, Jr., BS, MA
    Indian Development & Educational Alliance (IDEA)
    P.O. Box 726
    Miles City, MT 59301
    ugotanidea@yahoo.com
    Phone (406) 853-6631
    Fax (406) 234-3148
  
   
• Planting Seeds of Hope – Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council program that is funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration through the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, named after Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith's son, Garrett Lee Smith, who committed suicide in 2003. This act also helps fund many other tribes and states with suicide prevention programs.
  
  The PSOH program includes Montana's Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Fort Peck and Fort Belknap, and Wyoming's Wind River Indian populations.
  
    View Website
  
  Contact:
    Don Wetzel, Jr., PSOH Director
    222 North 32 Street – Suite 401
    Billings, MT 59101
    Phone: 406-252-2550
    Email: dwetz@mtwytlc.com
   
• Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) is an emergency mental health intervention for suicidal persons created by Paul Quinnett and the QPR Institute in 1995. The QPR Institute, the Eastern Washington University, and the Camas Path (which is a Tribally chartered entity of the Kalispel Tribe) have collaborated to offer several college credit courses, the QPR Suicide Triage, and the QPRT Suicide Risk Assessment trainings.
  
  QPR Institute
  Native American Suicide Risk Assessment and Training Course
  Native American Suicide Triage Training Course
  Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Trainings Matrix (PDF)
  
  
• Reconnecting Youth (RY) Class is a school-based selective/indicated prevention program that targets young people in grades 9-12 who show signs of poor school achievement, potential for school dropout, and other at-risk behaviors including suicide-risk behaviors.
  
     Reconnecting Youth Class (PDF)
   
• Safe TALK is a half-day training program that teaches participants to recognize and engage persons who might be having thoughts of suicide and to connect them with community resources trained in suicide intervention.
  
     Living Works SAFETALK
     safeTALK: Suicide Alertness for Everyone (PDF)
   
• SOS Signs of Suicide is a 2-day secondary school-based intervention that includes screening and education. Students are screened for depression and suicide risk and referred for professional help as indicated. Students also view a video that teaches them to recognize signs of depression and suicide in others. They are taught that the appropriate response to these signs is to acknowledge them, let the person know you care, and tell a responsible adult (either with the person or on that person's behalf).
  
     Intervention Summary: SOS Signs of Suicide
   
• Sources of Strength is a strength-based, comprehensive wellness program that focuses on suicide prevention and also affects substance abuse, violence, and other issues. The program’s relational connections model uses teams of peer leaders mentored by adult advisors. The program changes peer social norms about help seeking and encourages students to individually assess and develop strengths in their lives. Sources of Strength is usually offered in middle schools, high schools, and colleges. However, it is also used in community, faith-based, and cultural settings. The program is often initiated as 3- to 6-month project, but is designed to be a multiyear project.
  
    View Website
  
  Contact:
    Mark LoMurray
    Founder and Executive Director
    sourcesofstrength@gmail.com
    Phone (701) 471-7186
   
• Specialized Emergency Room Intervention for Suicidal Adolescents–This intervention provides specialized emergency room care for adolescent suicide attempters and their parents. It would appear that it may have the potential to be used in other IHS and Tribal clinics and hospitals.
  
     Specialized Emergency Room Intervention for Suicidal Adolescent Females (PDF)
     Emergency Room Means Restriction Education (PDF)


• To Live to See the Great Day That Dawns, a guide (PDF) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, lays the groundwork for comprehensive suicide prevention planning. The guide explores some of the cultural issues around prevention and describes respectful approaches. It also provides practical tools and resources that a community can use for assessment, program selection, coalition-building, and implementation of a comprehensive plan.



• Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program – is a school and community-based suicide prevention program that incorporates a collaborative, grass-roots model to decrease suicide risk by promoting help-seeking behavior. This is accomplished by (1) increasing public awareness of suicide prevention, (2) training gatekeepers, and (3) facilitating help-seeking by distributing “Ask for Help” cards.
  
     Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Trainings Matrix (PDF)
     Yellow Ribbon