Reducing Suicide Risk for Youth and Young Adults
Carroll County Coalition for Public Health (C3PH), an initiative of Granite United Way, has kicked off a Youth Suicide Prevention Project. A critical partner and leader in this project, National Alliance on Mental Illness NH is a grassroots organization working to improve the quality of life for all by providing support, education, and advocacy for people affected by mental illness and suicide. They have served youth and young adults for over 35 years and is highly regarded in New Hampshire for its work in suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention.
In New Hampshire, 121 youth and young adults lost their lives to suicide between 2015 and 2018. Bullying, addiction, abuse, depression, and homelessness are just a few examples of challenges some New Hampshire youth face day today. Suicide is a complex issue and risk can be increased by these issues. When Carroll County high school students were asked to complete a Youth Behavior Risk Survey in 2019, 36.4% reported that during the last 12 months, they felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row, that they stopped doing some usual activities.
The Carroll County Youth Suicide Prevention Project aims to reduce suicide and suicide risk for youth and young adults ages 10-24. This project has connected an Implementation Team of representatives from all sectors who serve youth, such as K-12 educational institutions, community colleges, healthcare, employers of young adults, and social services.
But where do we start from here? Some of the objectives for the next five years include developing a care liaison role in each region to facilitate pathways to care for high-risk youth/young adults, leverage technology to advance screening and assessment and improve care coordination and cross-systems communication, and engage regional teams in planning to build infrastructure around best practices for suicide prevention/postvention. (source: NAMI NH e-news Jan 19, 2020)
The Carroll County Suicide Prevention Project is made possible through the NH Nexus Project 2.0, with federal funds from a 5-year $3.6 million Garrett Lee Smith grant from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Garrett Lee Smith was the son of former Oregon Senator Gordon Smith. When Garrett was 21, he lost his life to depression, alcohol, and suicide. This grant was awarded to NAMI NH to carry out suicide prevention projects throughout the public health networks of Carroll County, Capital Region, and North Country of NH.
Granite United Way’s C3PH is honored to represent the organization’s commitment to suicide prevention across central and northern New Hampshire. With the leadership of NAMI NH, the Carroll County Suicide Prevention Project is off to a great start.
If you would like to learn more about the Carroll County Suicide Prevention Project or NAMI NH, please visit https://www.naminh.org/ or www.theconnectprogram.org
There is 24/7 help through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) or the Crisis Text Line: (741741)