The Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation Youth Yellowhawk Tribal Health Clinic Circles of Hope Youth Suicide Prevention Project

Status: current


Research Purpose: The Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation Circles of Hope (CoH) Youth Suicide Prevention Project at the Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center provides a broad based youth suicide prevention program serving AI/AN youth 10-24 years old, their families and the community. Program activities include trainings, systemic improvements to assure continuity of care and implementation of best practices, increased treatment efficacy, and culturally attuned prevention services in collaboration with a wide range of program partners.

Evaluation: Working closely with CoH staff, tribal partners, SAMHSA, and the national cross-site evaluator, NPC ensures the evaluation addresses the information needs of all stakeholders. Because of the importance of trusted relationships, NPC Research uses a participatory framework to gain and keep the trust and cooperation of program partners for required national-level data collection as well as local evaluation and reporting. NPC’s goal is to design processes and tools to make data collection and reporting both accurate and burden free for staff.

Project Design: This is a multi-method study, with process and outcome evaluation components. Process information is gathered through a series of key stakeholder interviews. The outcome evaluation involves working with the national cross-site evaluator to collect training data, information on youth identified as at risk for suicide and information about referrals to mental health and other services. Local evaluation design and implementation will be closely coordinated with CoH staff to ensure that it is both useful and timely.

Funding Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Start Date: October 2014

Project Team

Principal Investigator

Tamara Perkins, Ph.D.

Project Director

Theresa Herrera Allen, Ph.D.