The Kodiak Area Native Association (KANA) is proposing programming to meet the objectives under the Substance Abuse and Suicide Prevention’s Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention (SPIP) program. Through the activities described in this application, KANA proposes to reduce the prevalence of suicide among American Indian and Alaska Native populations by improving care coordination, expanding behavioral health care services through the use of culturally appropriate evidence-based and practice based models, and developing or expanding on Generation Indigenous Initiative activities that promote early intervention strategies for Native youth at risk for suicidal behavior.
The proposed programming targets multiple sub-populations within the Kodiak region, including Native youth and residents of the region’s rural village communities. KANA proposes to utilize SPIP resources to implement project activities that will increase KANA’s capacity to provide services. Specific examples include assessing training needs and providing suicide related training for KANA and partner organization staff as well as supporting training for KANA Behavioral Health staff who provide direct treatment and aftercare. KANA also plans expand community education through use of the Question. Persuade. Refer. (QPR) suicide prevention model, creation of a user-friendly community resource guide, and through public health outreach campaigns about suicide. Finally, KANA proposes to support activities for Native youth, including coordinating with Native culture bearers to help youth develop as storytellers, supporting culture camps and weeks hosted by Tribal partners, collaborating with KANA Prevention programs to establish a Tribal Youth Council, hosting youth and family engagement activities, and collaborating with KIBSD to assess the viability of youth peer to peer mental health support.
To accomplish the proposed Goals and Objectives, KANA also plans to form partnerships with key stakeholders and community organizations. These will include the Kodiak Island Borough School District, Kodiak Women’s Resource and Crisis Center, Kodiak Island Housing Authority, and the 10 Federally recognized Alaska Native Tribes throughout the Kodiak region. These partnerships have been fostered throughout the life of the Methamphetamine and Suicide Prevention Initiative Purpose Area 4 – Generation Indigenous (Gen-I) project, which KANA operated from 2016-2021. Many of the proposed activities and planned partnerships are an evolution of the Gen-I project, with a focus on identified gaps and improvement.
Internally, KANA’s SPIP project will collaborate closely with other programs, such as the SAMHSA-funded Native Connections project, as well as KANA’s newly proposed Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, and Aftercare and Domestic Violence Prevention grant programs. Together, these programs will expand the Prevention Department by hiring additional Prevention Specialists, an Education & Training Coordinator, and a Health Promotion Coordinator. Prevention Specialists will act as cross-trained generalists responsible for carrying out the majority of the proposed activities. The Education & Training Coordinator will work closely with KANA managers and directors to address the policy, procedure, and training components of the proposed project. The Health Promotion Coordinator will lead the development and dissemination of public health messaging, promoting activities and events, as well as supporting external programmatic communications.
Through this proposed project, KANA will address the IHS-determined Goals and internally created Objectives to achieve the purpose of the SPIP program to reduce the prevalence of suicide among Native populations throughout the Kodiak region.