Suicide prevention resource center - the suicide prevention resource center (SPRC) at the university of oklahoma (OU) will serve as the nation's only federally-funded center of excellence dedicated to…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded the University of Oklahoma $30.621 million on September 30, 2025, under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.243) to operate the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), the nation's federally-funded center of excellence dedicated to suicide prevention.

SPRC delivers training, technical assistance, and capacity-building services to state, territorial, tribal, and local suicide prevention system leaders; health and behavioral health providers and systems; SAMHSA grantees; and related organizations in education, foster care, and faith communities. Services target credentialed and licensed professionals, emerging professionals in higher education, peer and community coalition members, and individuals and families with suicide-centered lived experience. SPRC's strategies are informed by analysis of barriers to implementing evidence-based suicide prevention strategies and include designing multi-level, capacity-building, and outcomes-focused technical assistance to fill identified gaps. Project goals include increasing capacity of state, tribal, territorial, and community systems to implement effective suicide prevention strategies; strengthening national, state, and local partnerships across public and private sectors to advance the field; improving capacity of states, tribes, health care systems, and providers to screen, assess, intervene, treat, and follow up with those at suicide risk using the Zero Suicide Model; and increasing availability of support for those at highest suicide risk, survivors, and families.

Performance occurs in Norman, Oklahoma, with a period of performance from September 30, 2025, through September 29, 2030. Education Development Center, Inc., receives subawards to provide Action Alliance Secretariat convening and facilitation services and training and technical assistance support to the University of Oklahoma. Social Science Research and Evaluation, Inc., receives a subaward to conduct process and outcome evaluation of SPRC activities, including needs assessments, management of a TTA tracking system, and evaluation of service reach.

Suicide prevention resource center - the suicide prevention resource center (SPRC) at the university of oklahoma (OU) will serve as the nation's only federally-funded center of excellence dedicated to suicide prevention. We will serve state, territorial, tribal, and local suicide prevention system leaders, health and behavioral health providers and health systems, samhsa grantees, and related organizations and settings like education, foster care, and faith communities. SPRC will support credentialed or licensed professionals, emerging professionals in higher education and practicum settings, peers and community coalition members, and individuals and families with suicide-centered lived experience. The TTA services delivered by SPRC across professions, geographic locations, and organizations and settings will ultimately impact groups at higher risk for suicide, people with suicide-centered lived experience, and communities affected by suicide loss. SPRC TTA strategies will be informed by an analysis of barriers to implementing evidence-based strategies and best practices. We will use this analysis to design high-impact, multi-level, capacity-building, and outcomes-focused TTA to fill those gaps. SPRC project goals include (1) increase the capacity of state, tribal, territorial, and community systems, leaders, and organizations to support the implementation of effective suicide prevention strategies; (2) strengthen and sustain high-impact national, state, and local partnerships across public and private sectors to build alignment and consensus and advance the field of suicide prevention; (3) improve capacity of states, tribes, health care systems, and providers to effectively screen, assess, intervene, treat, and follow up with those at risk of suicide and use the zero suicide model; and (4) increase availability of support for those at highest suicide risk, survivors, and families to improve crisis response, help loved ones get care, and increase access to community supports. SPRC objectives will include: developing and maintaining a best practices registry of evidence-based and best practices for suicide risk identification, prevention, and intervention among individuals and communities at high risk for suicide; developing and disseminating state-wide and tribal early prevention and intervention strategies for all ages, particularly for those at high risk for suicide; developing TTA products such as trainings (e.g. self-paced online learning modules, train-the-trainer activities) and resources (e.g. implementation guides, fact sheets, infographics) to address both upstream suicide prevention and suicide prevention for groups at high risk for suicide. Objectives also include responding to requests for TTA on suicide prevention, the development and implementation of comprehensive community suicide prevention, upstream suicide prevention, early intervention strategies, and community-based suicide prevention capacity building. SPRC will develop trainings and resources on the intersection of health care and suicide, including the seven-element zero suicide model, to promote and implement effective clinical and professional practices for assessing and treating those identified as being at risk for suicidal behavior. The trainings and resources will be publicly available on the SPRC website and will include continuing education units (CEUS) for various healthcare professionals and continuing medical education (CME) credit for physicians. And SPRC will develop and maintain a private-public partnership (action alliance) to advance the work of suicide prevention across all states and territories. SPRC will reach over 17,000 newsletter subscribers each year, provide resources and tools to over 70,000 individuals annually, and provide web-based and in-person training and technical assistance to over 15,000 people annually for a total reach over 5 years of at least 497,500 individuals served. In addition, we will receive over