Native Americans have the highest rates of suicide of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a National Council for Mental Wellbeing survey found that 45% of Native American adults said they’d had more stress and mental health challenges, while only 24% had received treatment for mental health.
While Native Americans have high suicide rates and unique cultural challenges, programs aimed at prevention have seldom been designed for their specific needs.
Zero Suicide is a generalized suicide program that first launched in 2012, promoting the adoption of “zero suicide” as a goal across U.S. health care systems. It has since mobilized the field of suicide care worldwide.
The program uses seven elements, including assessment of suicide risk, collaboration with patients on safety plans, suicide-specific treatment, and follow-up care. It also expands suicide prevention training for health care workers and engages the broader community, including family members of those receiving care.
This model has been shown to work in the general population but has not been validated for Native communities. Research about effective suicide prevention in Native communities is sparse, says Sadé Heart of the Hawk Ali, tribal lead and senior project associate for the Zero Suicide Institute in Waltham, MA.
Read more at WebMD.com.
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