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Release: January 27, 2005
Contact: Joelle Reizes, 513-683-1599
YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM EARNS NEW GRANTS
AND FEDERAL FUNDING FOR 2005
The SOS Suicide Prevention Program for secondary schools, run by
the nonprofit organization Screening for Mental Health, received notification
of three new exciting sources of funding in recent weeks that will rapidly
expand the program in 2005. The program is the recipient of nearly $400,000,
including an appropriation in the recent federal Omnibus budget; a contract
from SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS); and a grant from
the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation in Massachusetts.
The $100,000 appropriation is the direct result of support from Senator Mike
DeWine, R-OH, and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a staunch
supporter of youth suicide prevention. The SOS funding will be used to bring
the SOS program to Ohio schools free of charge and provide training for school
personnel and clinicians implementing the program.
The CMHS contract for $99,000 is designed to introduce the program to schools
that have never used it before, work with them to evaluate their referral
process and compliance with treatment recommendations for at-risk students
identified through the program. CMHS supported the SOS program in its formative
years by providing seed money in 2000.
The MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation grant is a two-year grant to
create a middle school SOS program based on the successful high school model.
Screening for Mental Health will use the first year to develop the program with
the help of an Advisory Board comprised of Boston Metrowest school
professionals and clinical experts including William Beardslee, MD,
Psychiatrist-In-Chief at Children’s Hospital Boston. The second year will
be used to pilot the program in the Metrowest schools. The MetroWest Community
Health Care Foundation is an independent health care philanthropy serving the
unmet health needs of the 25 communities in Massachusetts’ Metrowest area. The
Middle school program will be offered to schools nationwide after its
development.
“We are excited by these new sources of funding and the
opportunities they bring. More youth and communities will be served. In
particular we owe a debt of gratitude to Senator Mike DeWine for his support as
well as his leadership in the area of Youth Suicide,” says Douglas G.
Jacobs, MD, Screening for Mental Health President & CEO. “We are also
indebted to the Center for Mental Health Services for its continued interest
and investment in the program and the MetroWest Community Health Care
Foundation for believing in our vision of prevention and early identification
and the need to bring this program to younger students.”
The SOS Signs of Suicide® Program is a nationally recognized,
cost-effective program of mental health screening and suicide prevention, which
can be easily implemented by existing school personnel during one or two school
periods. A widely studied, evidence-based program, SOS is the first suicide
prevention program to be selected by SAMHSA for its Registry of Effective
Programs. It is the only school-based suicide prevention program that has been
shown to reduce suicidality in a randomized, controlled study (American Journal
of Public Health, March 2004).
The program was developed with the assistance of leading school-based
professional organizations such as the National Association of School
Psychologists, National Association of School Nurses, American School
Counselors Association and the National Association of Secondary School
Principals, among others.
The main teaching tool of the program is a video that teaches students how to
identify symptoms of depression and suicidality in themselves or their friends
and encourages help-seeking. The program’s primary objectives are to
educate teens that depression is a treatable illness and to equip them to
respond to a potential suicide in a friend or family member using the SOS
technique. SOS is an action-oriented approach instructing students how to ACT
(Acknowledge, Care and Tell) in the face of this mental health emergency. A kit
of materials is provided that includes a staff procedure manual and training
video, student screening forms, an educational video and discussion guide, and
brochures on suicide and depression for students and parents. Since 2000, more
than 1,500 schools have implemented the program.
SOS is a program of the nonprofit organization Screening for Mental Health,
Inc., headquartered in Wellesley Hills, MA. To learn more visit its website at
www.MentalHealthScreening.org or call 781-239-0071.
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Screening for Mental Health, Inc.
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