A new suicide prevention research center, the National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS), is an innovative program funded by a $15 million grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health. The goal is to build information bridges between health care organizations and justice systems to identify individuals at risk for suicide and connect them to care. The three lead PIs, Jennifer Johnson (Michigan State University), Brian Ahmedani (Henry Ford Health), and CRISP’s Associate Director, Lauren Weinstock (Brown University) will guide and collaborate on research and pilot projects with ten other health care and higher education organizations, including several CRISP members. Click here for the full press release. Congratulations, Jennifer, Brian, and Lauren!

Check out the links below for the session recordings from our June 10, 2022 Symposium: Suicide Prevention: Connecting Research and Clinical Care in Rhode Island.

• CRISP 2022 Keynote Speakers:                                                       Cheryl King, PhD and Brian Ahmedani, PhD https://youtu.be/YvX73gCDZVY

In July, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline announced the availability of “988,” a new three-digit calling code for individuals in crisis to call, text, or chat.

See below for some additional resources on the new 988 initiative:

• For more information on 988: https://afsp.org/988-suicide-and-crisis-lifeline
• For resources on how to use and implement 988: https://sprc.org/988

The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Clinical Psychology Training Programs at Brown: A Consortium of the Providence VA Medical Center, Lifespan, and Care New England T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Suicide Research. This Research Fellowship Program (RFP) opportunity is based out of the Brown University Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, with faculty representation across 6 of our affiliated training hospitals.  

The Brown Suicide Research T32 is designed to prepare the next generation of MD and PhD researchers to conduct cutting-edge translational and prevention research on suicidal ideation and behaviors. Fellows in this program will receive rigorous foundational training in research design and statistics, ethics and responsible conduct of research, scientific rigor and reproducibility, and grant writing, alongside individualized training in suicide research, guided by a primary mentor and a co-mentor with complementary expertise. Program faculty, represented across 6 of our Brown-affiliated hospitals, provide opportunities for mentorship and training in suicide research across a broad range of age and patient populations, covering basic experimental and predictive methods, intervention development and clinical trials, and implementation science. Affiliated faculty offer expertise in areas that are highly complementary to important questions in suicide research, including sleep, genetics, ecological and ambulatory assessment, neurostimulation, biomedical informatics, emergency and pediatric medicine, geriatrics, and advanced statistical methodologies.

Please visit Suicide Research T32 | Clinical Psychology Training | Brown University for more information and to see the faculty mentor profiles. For more information or with questions, please contact Center Co-Director, Lauren Weinstock, PhD, Lauren_Weinstock@brown.edu

For further details regarding the application process, please visit the Postdoctoral Fellowship link on our website at:  www.brown.edu/go/clinical-psychology-training

Click here for more information about AFSP’s Talk Saves Lives program. There is an events calendar where you can find local suicide prevention education events geared towards families and other community members. Please feel free to post and share this with those you think would be interested!

HealthLeaders’ senior clinical care editor, Chris Cheney, interviewed Brandon Gaudiano, PhD, clinical psychology, Butler Hospital, about the primary elements of the Butler Hospital Transitional Outpatient Program, the quality benchmarks that will measure the success of the program, in what ways BCBSRI will collaborate on the new program, as well as what behavioral health conditions are a driving factor of hospital readmissions.

https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/clinical-care/how-create-transitional-outpatient-program-behavioral-health-inpatients

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG)—in collaboration with the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance)—released The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Implement the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. This new report outlines the actions that communities and individuals can take to reduce the rates of suicide and help improve resilience.

Drs. Michael Armey and Diane Block are spearheading an initiative by Butler Hospital which aims to reduce to zero the number of lives lost by suicide for 30 days after discharge from inpatient or day program treatment. Check out https://www.butler.org/patient-resources/zero-suicide for more information!

Lauren Weinstock, Brandon Gaudiano, and Ivan Miller conducted a live webinar on November 10th to discuss “Improving Care Transitions for Individuals with Suicidal Behaviors: Introduction to the Coping Long-Term with Active Suicide Program (CLASP).” The webinar provided SCP members an opportunity to learn about CLASP, so they can consider utilizing this intervention in their own clinical or research settings.

CRISP researchers Anthony Spirito, Ivan Miller, Brandon Gaudiano, and Lauren Weinstock are participating in a 4-site national study funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) (UCLA is the lead site), titled “Youth Partners in Care for Suicide Prevention (YPIC-SP).” Approximately 1,500 adolescents and young adults presenting to one of four emergency departments (EDs) across the country will be recruited. Participants will be randomly assigned to either SAFETY-A, a crisis therapy session in the ED, or SAFETY-A + Coping Long-term with Active Suicide Program (CLASP), comprised of brief therapeutic follow-up contacts after discharge. Congratulations!

Heather Schatten, PhD received a grant from the NIMH (R34MH124971-01), Examining Feasibility, Acceptability, and Sustainability of a Novel Personalized Smartphone Intervention for Suicide. This 3-year project will use multiple evidence-based components (e.g., EMA) to test the utility of a mobile application system to identify increased suicide risk and deliver personalized intervention for patients transitioning out of a psychiatric hospital. Congratulations, Heather!

Michael Armey and Melanie Bozzay received a $2.2 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. Their study, Dynamic Impacts of Sleep Disruption on Ecologically Assessed Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive Risk Factors for Suicide, will use technology to monitor sleep and affective, behavioral, and cognitive predictors of suicide risk for 200 psychiatric inpatients at high risk for suicide. Congratulations, Michael and Melanie!