Saturday, April 27, 2024
4/27/2024
The Wichita and Affiliated Tribes - Native Connections (WAT-NC) Project proposes to deliver suicide and substance abuse prevention services to the Native youth of Caddo County Oklahoma. Caddo County is an important center of Traditional American Indian activity, and six Tribal Nations have their headquarters there. Approximately 2,000 Native youth ages 10-24 live in the County. Suicide rates for Native youth, especially males, are extremely high and four times as high as they are for White youth. Our Project has six Goals: 1. Complete a Community Needs Assessment and a Community Readiness Assessment 2. Support Tribal youth servicing agencies to provide emotional support for Native youth. 3. Create protocols to ensure at risk youth who have attempted suicide receive follow up care. 4. Improve and Revise Crisis Response protocols for responding to suicides, suicide attempts, and substance-abuse interventions. 5. Implement a Strategic Action Plan to track and complete all Project Goals and measurable objectives. 6. Maintain project momentum through Tribal inclusion and Continuous Quality Improvement American Indian youth have the highest suicide rate of any racial group in the United States. Males are particularly susceptible and will be afforded gender specific interventions. High levels of depression and anxiety are documented for the Caddo County youth we seek to help. Our project will provide mental health and substance abuses services to all Native youth in the county regardless of Tribal Affiliation. In Oklahoma, Native people live in racially mixed communities not reservations. Our project will establish a youth coalition and advisory group to ensure we obtain feedback from our target youth. Project metrics. Male and female Native youth will be assisted with culturally appropriate interventions including culture classes to help them learn about their Native heritage while receiving prevention messages from trained facilitators. In addition to culturally appropriate interventions, youth will be trained in evidence-based suicide prevention strategies including safeTALK, Question Persuade and Refer and ASIST. We also will enroll local youth in a culturally appropriate program known as Culture and Drugs Don’t Mix developed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). We will serve approximately 100 youth in our first year and 200 youth per year for years 2,3,4 and 5. For a project total of 900 Native youth. If Non-Native wish to join our work, they are very welcome. Outcome and Process data will be collected to ensure accountability. Our project also has Continuous Quality Protocols operating for all five years.
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).
