Ko’l Ho Koom’ Mo (Working Together) Project Abstract Summary
Isolation, trauma, hopelessness, and substance abuse put American Indian youth (AI) in our community at a higher risk of suicide at an earlier age, increasing the need to expand early intervention and prevention efforts. The Ko’l Ho Koom’ Mo (Working Together) Project has built a highly successful model building on the cultural and associated identity needs of AI youth; incorporating traditional strengths with modern treatment modalities; combining the efforts of families, communities, and youth serving organizations in addressing suicide. We propose to expand this success by increasing the capacity of Tribal and non-Tribal sectors and in cross-sector alignment to embed suicide prevention as a core component of accessed services.
The following are our project goals:
Goal 1: Increase and expand implementation, and integration of suicide prevention and postvention activities across Tribal and non-Tribal sectors, and settings in order to better identify and work with youth at risk. Goal 2: Educate clinical service providers on suicide prevention, protective factors, warning signs, referral processes and available resources to increase their capacity to assess, manage and treat youth at risk for suicide. Goal 3: Establish the Zero Suicide Initiative as an essential component of how UIHS will reduce suicide through standardized and culturally appropriate strategies. Goal 4: Develop and implement an infrastructure that is integrative, culturally driven and provides continuity of care for clients identified as being at risk for suicide, including those who have been discharged from emergency departments and inpatient psychiatric units.
UIHS will utilize a combination of evidence-based programs such as: Zero Suicide Initiative (ZSI), Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR), Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM), Sources of Strength (SOS), Connect Postvention (CP), The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-3), The Columbia – Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), Stanley Brown Safety Plan and the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP). A media plan will be developed annually to share information about the project and its activities as well as share the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
United Indian Health Services has provided health care services for American Indians in Northwestern California for 49 years.
