The Lewis and Clark Public Health Suicide Prevention Project aims to reduce suicide and bolster mental health literacy in Montana’s Broadwater, Jefferson, and Lewis and Clark counties through systematic mental health and crisis de-escalation training. The project will augment local providers’ and emergency services’ capacity to respond to those experiencing severe mental or emotional disorders and will cultivate a regional support network to increase access to care.
Such programming is essential to the area and Montana, as it addresses factors contributing to the state’s consistent high rate of suicide. These include stigma, untreated mental illness, and access to lethal means. According to a report from the American Association of Suicidology, Montana holds the country's third-highest suicide rate based on number of deaths in 2019.
To combat this ongoing problem, the project trains the local workforce and the general public through its 2018-2021 SAMHSA Mental Health Awareness Training grant. So far, more than 3,000 first responders, medical and mental health providers, educators, youth, and community members have received education to support people in crisis and high-risk groups. These include adolescents, middle-aged white men, and a large population of Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families (SMVF). Integrated with ongoing efforts of the Helena SAMHSA Mayor’s and Montana Governor’s Challenges to Prevent Suicide – including a new lethal means program – the project will educate service providers in military cultural competency and lethal means counseling. It will also address perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) by educating two providers annually, emphasizing those who aid SMVF. The project’s five-year plan is to grow this effort in Lewis and Clark County, expand its educational reach to neighboring rural counties of Broadwater and Jefferson and provide more Suicide Safe Care training. These objectives will enable each county to achieve its respective Community Health Improvement Plan goals to curtail suicidal behaviors among youth and adults and enhance mental health for all. The seven measurable outcomes are to achieve the following in the tri-county area by Sept. 30, 2026:
1. Train 50% (365) law enforcement & first responders in mental health and suicide prevention models and Suicide Safe Care tools based on SAMHSA’s Zero Suicide
2. Train 50% (213) medical & mental health providers in Suicide Safe Care
3. Train 50% (213) medical and mental health providers in military cultural competency
4. Train 50% (500) Montana National Guard in suicide prevention and mental health
5. Offer 40 sessions YMHFA, QPR, ACEs, or SOS to tri-county parents/guardians annually
6. Train 15% (10) of providers who serve expecting and parenting mothers in Perinatal Mood Disorders
7. Increase mental health providers on the CONNECT Referral System from 28 to 90 total.
The project will train at least 400 workforce staff and 1,200 community members annually.