Safe Path Forward: A Tribal Behavioral Health Suicide Prevention Initiative - United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB), through Echota Behavioral Health, will implement Safe Path Forward, a five-year, culturally grounded suicide prevention initiative for American Indian and Alaska Native youth and young adults through age 24 in Cherokee, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, and Sequoyah Counties, Oklahoma. The project will reach at least 3,000 people annually and serve at least 300 unduplicated youth each year; direct services will support clients ages 10–24. UKB will establish a community Workgroup of at least 12 members by Month 4, complete a needs and readiness assessment by Month 6, adopt a Tribal Strategic Action Plan by Month 12, and adopt culturally responsive postvention protocols by Month 18. Universal, selective, and indicated strategies will include prevention messaging and 988 promotion; gatekeeper training; talking circles, cultural classes, camps, a Youth Council, and life-skills activities; and suicide risk screening, same-day safety planning, lethal-means counseling, peer support, transportation, telehealth, and warm linkages to behavioral health and substance use treatment. By Month 9, all clients ages 10–24 will receive ASQ screening, with same-day safety planning for every positive screen. The project will train at least 100 gatekeepers annually, strengthen Keetoowah cultural connectedness and protective factors, expand clinical and data capacity, and build a sustainable Tribal prevention system.
