Compass Health, Inc. GLS Youth Suicide Project - Program Title: Compass Health, Inc. GLS Youth Suicide Project. Compass Health, Inc. provides a full array of health care services and support to patients throughout multiple underserved communities. The purpose of the program is to support states with implementing youth (up to 24 years of age) suicide prevention and early intervention strategies in schools, educational institutions, juvenile justice systems, substance use and mental health programs, foster care systems, pediatric health programs, and other child/youth serving entities. Our system has designed a staffing pattern consisting of hospital access liaisons and community support specialists that will provide on-site support with partnering hospitals, urgent care, and other inpatient psychiatric facilities, as well as our own onsite pediatric primary care to support youth at a heightened risk of suicide with continuity of care and immediate follow-up. Additional staffing will include education and outreach specialists that will provide training and support to youth serving entities to increase entities that can identify and work with youth at risk of suicide and increase the capacity of clinical providers to assess, manage and treat youth at risk of suicide. This effort will be done in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Mental Health to support state-wide access to evidenced based training opportunities. The only restriction placed on the program by SAMHSA is the age requirement – efforts will be targeting children/youth who are at risk of suicide – our program will ensure all individuals have equal access to intervention and quality care. Our population of focus for the program will target two specific sub-populations that are at a heightened risk of suicide, Young Black Males and LGBTQIA+ populations. Missouri continues to be in the top 12 in the entire United States with higher rates of youth suicide. We will provide trauma-informed, evidenced-based, and culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate early intervention, assessment services, and screening programs to youth who are at risk for mental/emotional disorders that may lead to suicide attempts. This includes providing immediate support and information resources from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center to communities and families of youth who are at risk for or who have attempted suicide. We will build upon our current response system to ensure timely referrals with partnering health care urgent cares/hospitals/inpatient psychiatric and pediatric primary care facilities to incorporate safety planning and steps to remain in contact with at-risk youth during the referral process and provide follow-up care protocols throughout Missouri. The GLS Initiative will serve 1,300 youth who are at risk of suicide and provide education/training to targeted audiences - 14,500 individuals. This includes the following yearly totals: YR1: 2,150; YR2: 3,750; YR3: 3,800; YR4: 3,300; YR5: 2,800. Compass Health, Inc. staff will provide evidenced-based treatments including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and the Zero Suicide Model of Care – fully supported by the Missouri Department of Mental Health. These interventions have been chosen based on their success with the population of focus and years of demonstrated clinical efficacy. Given the initiative has a state-wide focus – specific to training and education activities, the demographics of the initiative will reflect the demographics of Missouri, as noted in recent US Census reports. As the state is predominantly Caucasian, we have selected sub-populations that have tremendously higher rates of suicide and suicide attempts, including the two marginalized populations listed within this abstract, to reduce stigma, increase engagement in life-saving treatments, foster resilience, and eliminate Missouri from being listed as a top-ranking state for the number of youth suicides.
