Project Grant H79SM091081

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded NAMI New Hampshire $734,948 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to implement a comprehensive, statewide youth suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention initiative.

NAMI New Hampshire will deploy its evidence-based CONNECT curriculum suite alongside embedded family peer support to expand system capacity, universalize early screening, and strengthen crisis transitions for youth up to age 24 at risk of acute suicidal crises, serious emotional disturbances, and substance use disorders. The initiative targets frontline professionals across juvenile justice, the Department of Children, Youth and Families, community mental health centers, psychiatric hospitals, and school districts statewide, with localized focus on Strafford County. Direct services include safety planning, evidence-based risk re-screening, family peer navigation, and school re-entry support for youth diverted from psychiatric hospitalization or discharging from Hampstead Hospital or the Center for Life Management Crisis Stabilization Program. The project addresses fragmented youth mental health infrastructure, emergency department boarding bottlenecks, insufficient community-based infrastructure, and lack of upstream universal risk screening in Strafford County, which faces economic divides and public transit limitations.

Performance occurs in Concord, New Hampshire, with a period of performance through September 29, 2031. The award aligns with New Hampshire's Keep Kids Home strategy to reduce institutional placement and improve community-based care pathways.