ND Thrives is committed to preventing suicide among rural, tribal, and frontier youth ages 10-24 in North Dakota. Rural youth are recognized as a population at particular risk in ND, and our target region (North Central ND) includes very isolated counties with the highest suicide rates and greatest risk.

We are partnering with multiple communities, agencies, and organizations that represent both rural and tribal cultures to implement a culturally appropriate strategy that places equal emphasis on prevention, intervention, and treatment and leverages existing services in under-resourced communities.

Goals

• Develop, test, and disseminate a model of suicide care for youth ages 10-24 in critical access hospitals and community clinics to elevate the ND standard of care.
• Provide suicide prevention, early intervention, and treatment services in school and community settings for youth 10-18 years old.
• Develop and implement a postvention system to provide support to families and others after a suicide attempt or death.
• Develop and implement a community-based lethal means reduction campaign in partnership with gun shops, sportsmen’s clubs, game and fish, and the gun-owning community.
• Evaluate the impact of clinical and community suicide prevention project activities on changes in suicide risk identification, clinical service delivery, and on lethal and non-lethal suicide attempts.