Project Grant H79SM091070

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services) awarded the Mississippi Department of Mental Health $724,508 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532).

The award funds a five-year statewide capacity-building initiative to strengthen suicide prevention, intervention, postvention, and crisis response systems for youth ages 10–24 across Mississippi. The project targets heavily populated, rural, and medically underserved communities experiencing elevated suicide rates, poverty, trauma exposure, adverse childhood experiences, and significant shortages of behavioral health providers. Beneficiaries include children, adolescents, and transition-age youth experiencing depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, trauma, substance use disorders, grief, and family instability, with special attention to youth in school systems, institutions of higher education, school-based health clinics, juvenile justice programs, child welfare systems, and community mental health programs. Families and caregivers of at-risk youth receive services and support.

The initiative implements evidence-based suicide prevention strategies including universal suicide risk screening, suicide risk assessment, referral and care coordination protocols, workforce development, family engagement, postvention services, and system-level improvements. Tools and practices deployed include the ASK Suicide-Screening Questions, PHQ-9A, Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale, SAFE-T, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, Question Persuade Refer, Youth Mental Health First Aid, Mental Health First Aid, Signs of Suicide, and Counseling on Access to Lethal Means.

Period of performance is September 30, 2026 through September 29, 2031. Place of performance is Jackson, Mississippi.