Whatcom County youth suicide prevention program earns national recognition
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- MAD HOPE earned national accreditation for its youth suicide prevention work.
- The program trained 1,590 Whatcom County students on crisis signs and prevention.
- Leaders cite funding uncertainty as a challenge to sustaining and expanding reach.
Nearly one in six middle and high school students in Whatcom County reported that they considered attempting suicide in 2023, according to the state’s Healthy Youth Survey.
And while the numbers are down from the previous survey’s results, youth suicide prevention remains an important issue that non-profit programs like MAD HOPE continue to work toward. That effort recently led to national accreditation.
The MAD HOPE Youth Suicide Prevention and Mental Well-Being Program, which is part of the Whatcom Family and Community Network, recently was listed on the national Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s Best Practice Registry.
The program has been brought to schools across the county over the years, often to middle and high school health classes. Program Director Amy Dunham said the three-hour training focuses on general health and well-being, as well as suicide warning signs and interventions.
MAD HOPE reached 1,590 students across Whatcom County last school year, according to Dunham.
Training young people on suicide prevention is different than training adults, Dunham said. She explained that some of the approaches and advice for adults simply aren’t applicable or approachable to teens. Instead, much of the intervention training focuses on encouraging teens to tell a trusted adult if they or someone they know is experiencing a mental health crisis.
MAD HOPE was also careful to develop a curriculum with safe messaging that doesn’t accidentally glorify suicide. Dunham said this is important for training with any age group, but teens seem to be “more susceptible to that effect.”
“We’ve really focused on making sure that this training curriculum is really robust, that it’s responsible (and) that it’s choosing best practices and safe messaging,” Dunham said.
She said recognition for this effort has been “really validating.” The application process was extensive, Dunham said, and she hopes that the accreditation will help others see the effectiveness of the MAD HOPE program.
National efforts to combat youth suicide
Dunham said that the training directs youth to both local and national crisis resources. She said national resources like 988 can be especially helpful because they will continue to be available even if students move out of the county or state.
The national suicide and crisis lifeline recently drew national attention when the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced the discontinuation of 988’s LGBTQ+ youth-oriented crisis line, which callers could access by pressing a button after calling the general hotline.
More than 1.28 million young people have used this specific service since its implementation in September 2022, according to SAMHSA. The Trevor Project, which helped respond to these dedicated calls, will continue to operate its own 24/7 hotline dedicated specifically to LGBTQ+ youth in crisis.
SAMHSA said in the press release announcing the ending of the dedicated crisis line that the federal funding for the service has been entirely expended.
The possibility of not having the funds to continue providing services is one that hangs over MAD HOPE, too.
“Like many other nonprofits right now, we are seeing some changes in the funding landscape,” Dunham said. “To continue to be able to expand the services — really even to maintain them at the level they currently are — we definitely need financial support.”
For more information about the MAD HOPE program, visit madhope.org.