California Rural Indian Health Board

Healing Our Own People (HOOP) Program
Garrett Lee Smith Tribal
Alumni
2012
California

The California Rural Indian Health Board, Inc (CRIHB) is seeking funding under the SAMHSA Tribal Suicide Early Intervention and Prevention initiative to support the Healing Our Own People (HOOP) program, a population-based, comprehensive suicide intervention and prevention program that will include training for 225 health professionals and community support service providers and offer suicide prevention services to 1,500 American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) youth ages 10-24, in California over three years.In Year One, 385 youth will be served, in Year Two, 557, and in Year Three 558. The program will leverage an enhanced provider network of 20 California Tribal Health Programs (THPs) whose staff will be trained to use Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) or Suicide Alertness for Everyone (safeTALK) to screen youth for suicide risk using the TeenScreen methodology, including the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-Y), Patient Health questionnaire Modified for Teens (PHQ-9), and (as appropriate) CRAFFT instruments as well as other risk-detection strategies. Once trained, providers will offer or refer youth to services at the participating 20 THPs where clients can choose from a menu of evidence-based, culturally-appropriate practices, including Gathering of Native American (GONA), Native H.O.P.E (Helping Our People Endure), and American Indian Life Skills Development. Each of the participating THP provider partners will receive a predetermined level of service vouchers powerfully leveraging CRIHBs SAMSHA-funded Access to Recovery (ATR) voucher management system (VMS), and programs supportive infrastructure. Vouchers will be issued based on assessments using the above mentioned best practice certified screening tools to determine the appropriate level of service: either clinical treatment or prevention. The HOOP program will employ a culturally sensitive and community-reflective social marketing campaign designed to increase awareness both of the suicide problem and of available program resources, including national and state hotlines and the Action Alliance. We also appreciate that it will be necessary to pen new pathways into the program for youth. Integration of AIAN ceremonies, values, and practices will be the key to program success, and will play a key role in training and successful implementation of intervention and prevention programming. Tribal communities will draw among community programs to partner in delivery of services to reflect tribal traditions and belief systems. The particular emphasis of HOOP will be the robust development of the multi-layered, culturally appropriate system to outreach and provide services to a maximum number of youth