Tuesday, May 7, 2024
5/7/2024
The City of Houston Mayor's Office of Education with the collaboration with the Baylor College of Medicine are proposing a four-year initiative, titled The Next Day Project (NDP) to effectively address the epidemic of youth suicide, within the Greater Houston Area, through evidence, trauma, and culturally informed processes. Children, youth and families will receive screening, assessment, referral to care, and intensive direct services for those in most need. The project is named the Next Day Project (NDP) because that is the identified gap for youth who are struggle with suicide thoughts and behaviors. The NDP initiative will serve school-age youth (6-17 years) at risk for serious emotional disturbance (SED) who are presenting suicidal ideation, have attempted to commit suicide or are presenting non-suicidal self-injury. It aims to fill a need in the area to assess and treat suicidal youths given that there is a lack of a comprehensive approach to the screening, development of an appropriate safety planning and linkage for treatment. The initiative will implement effective detection, assessment, monitoring, referral, tracking, and appropriate treatment by coordinating these processes under the auspices of the Baylor College of Medicine - Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, emergency centers and clinics of the Texas Children's Hospital, pediatricians and primary care providers, independent schools districts and charter schools, local community organizations including Mental Health America of Greater Houston, Houston Area Suicide Prevention Coalition and National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Houston, and state-funded programs such as Texas Child Health Access Thru Telemedicine (TCHATT) and the Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN). The initiative will provide a stepped level of care for youth through (a) screening protocols for at-risk youth, (b) assessing youth presenting suicidal attempts or serious crisis, (c) providing first-hand interventions, (d) connecting to appropriate level of care within the community based on these screenings and assessments, (e) increasing the knowledge, skills and resources on providers through specialized training, and importantly, (f) expanding the clinical capacity within the community to provide intensive care management and multi-agency treatment planning and follow up. In the four-year span, the project aims to screen 40,000 youths, provide direct mental health services to 4,500 participants and their families, attend and provide guidance consultations to 400 primary care providers and pediatricians, and deliver training to 300 mental health providers and school counselors in the area, among other goals.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
