LET’S TALK SUICIDE PREVENTION

LET'S TALK SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM

Let’s Talk is GHEF’s long-running public health education program addressing youth suicide through dialogue, participatory learning, and targeted community engagement. Initially piloted in Eastern Montana — a region with some of the highest adolescent suicide rates in the United States — the program has since expanded to pilot sites in Ohio and Switzerland. Its curriculum combines evidence-based discussions on depression, resilience, and help-seeking with adaptable tools that empower schools and local leaders to reduce stigma and intervene early.
Developed to be both culturally and contextually responsive, Let’s Talk underscores the vital role of conversation and locally trusted networks in confronting mental health crises. We invite you to explore the program’s milestones, and to contact us for manuals, technical support, or coaching to implement or adapt Let’s Talk within your own educational or community setting.

“GHEF’s support over the years has been instrumental in many ways, and the statistical consulting resources it provided proved essential. Dr. Tan Tran of the Montana INBRE-funded SCRS group at MSU. Dr. Higgs served as a mentor in interpreting our findings and suggesting new ways to look at the data. Dr. Tran performed multiple analyses on our various waves of data and helped us apply benchmarks derived from the literature to compare various levels of change in the reported outcomes of our key variables. Montana INBRE support also allowed me to fund a graduate student to help build surveys, analyse the qualitative data and interpret the findings.My coauthor and GHEF collaborator, Vanessa McNeill, a psychology graduate from Montana State University Billings, was also instrumental in this effort.” – Professor Sarah N. Keller

The Let’s Talk research project spurred Dr. Keller and other co-PIs at different universities in Montana to develop a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant aimed at devising well-being strategies for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate students and faculty. The 3-year Mental Health Opportunities for Professional Empowerment in STEM (HOPES) grant, which was funded in 2021, endeavours to create, pilot, assess, and implement sustainable, evidence-based strategies that can facilitate and enhance the mental health of graduate students. The grant’s objectives are as follows:
1. Build a series of innovative, evidence-based, and inclusive experiences that enable diverse STEM graduate students to develop positive mental health and resilience skills.
2. Provide novel experiences for STEM faculty advisors to foster the transformation of the cultures in their disciplines and departments and establish healthy, productive, and mutually respectful relationships with diverse students.
3. Pilot the scale-up and expansion of these innovations to other campus settings.
4. Conduct formative and summative assessments to guide the project and its activities and evaluate their impact on student and faculty participants and their STEM graduate programs.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.