Keep Empowering Youth - Partners, Providers, Lived Experience (KEY-PPLE) - Keep Empowering Youth - Partners, Providers, and Lived Experience (KEY-PPLE) includes statewide (Tier 1) and targeted county (Tier 2) approaches. Through partnerships with youth, family, and community-based organizations, suicide-centered lived experience will inform statewide resource development. County-specific work will support youth at risk of suicide and their families through a pilot designed to divert youth away from psychiatric hospitalization when less restrictive treatment environments may be indicated. Among the nearly 4 million youth in Pennsylvania age 24 and below, 69% are Caucasian, 13% are Black, 3% are Asian American, 11% are LatinX, 4% are biracial, and less than 1% are American Indian Alaska Native. In 2022, suicide deaths in PA equaled the national rate of 14.2 per 100,000, whereas the suicide rate for youth in PA slightly decreased to 6.0, which is lower than that of the nation as a whole (6.9). However, within the counties in PA where targeted efforts are planned, the combined suicide rate for those under age 24 is 7.2, exceeding that of the state and country. PA Behavioral HealthChoices data shows an increasing trend in the rate of suicide ideation or attempt for individuals 24 and younger with Medical Assistance (MA) that have engaged in behavioral health services, with 49 per 1,000 individuals in 2018 and 59 per 1,000 in 2022. These increasing trends have been observed across racial/ethnic groups, with one of the county partners participating in the project's targeted efforts experiencing particularly dramatic increases for Black youth during this time (rate of 11 in 2018 to a rate of 36 in 2022). The project has three primary goals with associated objectives and key implementation strategies. Goal 1 is to promote comprehensive youth suicide prevention efforts locally and statewide through infrastructure development, cultivating partnerships, and development and dissemination of trauma-informed and culturally relevant resources. KEY-PPLE will sustain past cross-county and cross-campus collaborative efforts, promote equitable access to information and resources through alignment with other state suicide prevention initiatives, and provide technical assistance within two counties to support local youth suicide prevention infrastructure. Goal 2 is to engage youth and families with suicide-centered lived experience in community-based and statewide prevention efforts to develop culturally relevant supports and services. KEY-PPLE will connect various youth-serving organizations and obtain input from youth on grant-related efforts. Specific focus will be placed on establishing a coalition of Black youth around suicide prevention efforts to inform the project and concurrent efforts of PA’s Black Youth Suicide Prevention Workgroup. A broad range of additional upstream and targeted supports (e.g., podcasts, leadership training, family peer support groups, etc.) will be developed by and for youth and families. Goal 3 is to provide workforce development and build capacity for evidence-based and trauma-informed approaches to identify and support youth at risk of suicide and their families. This will include training efforts on evidence-based care within partner counties to increase timely and effective treatment in the least restrictive setting. It also includes statewide training opportunities on comprehensive suicide prevention and promotion of the Zero Suicide framework. Based on our success in prior grants and estimates based on available data, we expect to expose 220,881 individuals to awareness and prevention messages and 41,400 to training. We also expect 914 youth to be referred for treatment within the target counties for suicidal ideation or attempt. Overall, we anticipate serving more than 263,195 individuals throughout the course of this project.
