Vermont garrett LEE smith project (vtgls) - vermont youth aged 10-24 have experienced a 30% increase in suicide-related emergency department visits from 2018 to 2021 and are disproportionately…

Vermont garrett LEE smith project (vtgls) - vermont youth aged 10-24 have experienced a 30% increase in suicide-related emergency department visits from 2018 to 2021 and are disproportionately affected by suicide death compared to US youth (13.2 VS. 10.1 suicide deaths/100,000 in 2020). The vermont garrett LEE smith project (vtgls) will serve youth at risk of suicide by developing suicide prevention, screening and treatment infrastructure among existing youth and family organizations. Vtgls will focus on implementing strategies in vermont's regions with the highest youth suicide risk burden: the catchment area includes chittenden, rutland, bennington and windham counties; youth identifying as sexual orientation and gender identity minority youth (lgbtqa); black, indigenous, and youth of color (bipoc); and high-risk youth in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Vtgls will expand the following evidence-based suicide prevention strategies and interventions to reach youth and their families in the catchment area. These strategies include: implementing youth mental health first aid (y-mhfa), umatter for schools, and the zero suicide framework; training and distributing of resources promoting lethal means safety and counseling on access to lethal means; supporting youth with more risk factors, lgbtqa and bipoc youth and their families by promoting evidence-based protective factors; providing suicide bereavement training to mental health programs, expanding suicide grief and loss support groups and sponsoring finding hope sessions. Through implementation of these strategies, vtgls will impact an average of 2,950 unduplicated youth annually. These interventions will reach 14,750 unduplicated youth, 60 schools, 135 youth and family programs, and 3,820 youth-serving adults over the grant period. Vtgls's goals and objectives are to: 1) increase the number of youth-serving organizations who can identify and support youth at risk for suicide. Progress will be measures by the number of youth program staff y-mhfa instructor trained, youth program staff y-mhfa trained and the number of schools to adopting suicide prevention curriculum, policies, and implement lethal means safety strategies. 2) expand zero suicide programming in mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, and health care providers to increase clinical capacity to assess, manage and treat youth at risk of suicide and improve transitions of care and follow-up. Progress will be measured by the number of youth treatment providers participating in a zero suicide academy and community of practice (COP), completing annual assessment of youth treatment providers, and the number of established regional youth zero suicide planning groups. 3) support expansion of programming to enhance protective factors and build resiliency among youth at risk for suicide. Progress will be measured by the number program staff trained to provide teen youth mental health first aid (tmhfa), the number of teens trained in tmhfa, and the number of hosted social events for lgbtqa and bipoc youth and families. 4) expand services and supports for families, communities and organizations that have experienced a youth suicide death and families with youth experiencing suicidality. Progress will be measured by the number of new grief and loss support groups and regional finding hope sessions, and number of new counselors able to provide bereavement counseling for families. 5) use an ongoing data-driven approach to monitor effectiveness of statewide services, inform suicide prevention policy and program development and implementation, and technical assistance. Progress will be measured through regular presentation of evaluation metrics, and development and maintenance of an index of need.