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This month, the Forefront in the Schools team delivered our first-ever LEARN suicide prevention training designed specifically for athletic coaches. Our inaugural session took place with the dedicated coaching staff at Ballard High School in Seattle, who welcomed the opportunity to strengthen their skills in supporting student-athletes’ mental health and overall well-being. 

Coaches play an influential role in young people’s lives. They see students at their highest highs and toughest lows, often forming trusted, long-lasting relationships on and off the field. Because of this, coaches are in a powerful position to notice warning signs, start conversations, and help students connect to lifesaving support. 

Recognizing this, Forefront has been tailoring our suicide prevention programming to support youth sports and athletics, an area where mental health education and support can make a real difference.  In the spring, UW Athletics psychologists spoke about suicide prevention among student athletes at our Forefront Speaker Series and the response made it clear that there is both need and energy for more resources tailored to coaches and student-athletes. 

Ballard High School training represents our next step in this work. The session introduced coaches to the LEARN model, a practical and accessible framework for recognizing signs of suicide risk, asking directly about concerns, and connecting students at risk of suicide to help. Coaches engaged thoughtfully with the material, bringing forward their experiences, questions, and insights from working closely with teens. 

We’re grateful to the Ballard coaching staff for partnering with us on this first training, and we’re looking forward to expanding this work to more schools, districts, and athletic programs across Washington. Supporting youth mental health takes all of us, and we’re excited to continue building tools and training that meet coaches and student-athletes where they are. 

Coping 101 is an award-winning student-led podcast from c89.5 in partnership with Seattle Children’s, 4Culture and other community-minded partners, where high school hosts get real about mental health. Forefront is partnering with C89.5 to produce four episodes focused on on supporting suicide prevention in at-risk communities. 

Latest Episode

Teens at the Day of Hope Summit

For this special episode of Coping 101, we attended Forefront Suicide Prevention’s Day of Hope Summit, where high school student leaders from around the Puget Sound sat down to share their WHY‘s for joining in this life-saving work, what they’re doing to help themselves and their peers, and ways that adults can maintain effective mental health conversations with young people. 

Coping 101: All Wildcats Thrive – Coping 101

"Even though we come from different communities we all get to meet here, and the school truly acts as a bridge between all of our communities."  Wilbur-Creston-Keller is the ultimate cooperative school, bringing three different rural communities together to give all these students a second home. Wilbur-Creston-Keller Cooperative School is so much more than the sum of it's parts.  This small school in Central Eastern Washington bring three small communities together for scholastic and community care, to ensure that "All Wildcat's Thrive". Their unique situation requires unique answers to questions around mental health, and school Principal Teresa Chirsman, and student, Jocelynn, sit down with our host to break it all down. Coping 101 is an award-winning student-led podcast from c89.5, presented in partnership with Seattle Children's, Forefront Suicide Prevention, 4Culture and other community-minded partners, where Seattle area high school students get real about mental health. Through honest conversations with peers, Artists and behavioral health professionals, they break down stigma and share tools for coping with life's challenges — because no matter your age or background, we all struggle sometimes, and there are healthy ways to cope.  Get started with more episodes, and find community-centric resources online at c895.org/coping101 Wilbur-Creston-Keller Cooperative: https://www.wcsd.wednet.edu/ Forefront Suicide Prevention: https://intheforefront.org/ Forefront in the Schools: https://intheforefront.org/programs/forefront-in-the-schools/ Rural Health Info: https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/states/washington

1. Coping 101: All Wildcats Thrive 30:32
2. Coping 101: Washington Athletics 30:43
3. Coping 101: Mental Health Matters 29:18
4. Coping 101: DanceSafe 53:35
5. Coping 101: Most Steer Clear 30:38

Past Episodes Featuring Forefront

Charlene Ray discusses grief

While it looks different for every one of us, the journey of grief is all of ours to eventually navigate. Grief Guide, Clinical Social Worker, Writer and Therapist Charlene Ray shares insights from a three-decade career in Grief Counseling, including ways to prepare for the difficult traversal, tools that can help us have a healthy relationship with those we’ve lost and with grief itself, and how the natural world can be a healing companion.

The Jed Foundation (JED) is a leading nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults across the country. Through programs and partnerships, JED works with schools to strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs and systems while also equipping teens and young adults with the skills and knowledge to help themselves and each other.  

In 2023, JED and Forefront launched a partnership to expand access to the JED High School program to high schools in Washington. JED High School is a three-year strategic planning and technical assistance program that partners with high schools to assess a community’s needs; develop a customized strategic plan to build on existing strengths; and implement tools, strategies, and techniques aimed at creating measurable improvements in student mental health and a more connected community. To date, we have enrolled 21 schools in the JED High School Delivered by Forefront Suicide Prevention program. 

The partnership has given participating schools the best of both worlds. This includes JED’s data-driven, strategic planning paired and Forefront’s established expertise in Washington state alongside free access to Forefront’s Suicide Prevention LEARN gatekeeper training for participating schools.  

So far, the results have been extremely encouraging. Nearly 8,000 high school students have benefited from JED High School Delivered by Forefront Suicide Prevention, and schools have reported an increased sense of preparedness to support students’ mental health needs. The partnership has also fostered important conversations around mental health and suicide prevention that continue to ripple through school communities. 

Because of this, long-standing Forefront in the Schools communities have appreciated the opportunity to deepen their comprehensive suicide prevention programming, while schools that have never worked with us before are excited to join the program. 

“It’s been incredibly exciting to work with our school partners across the state with JED’s support in launching JED High School Delivered by Forefront Suicide Prevention,” says Michelle Flores, Forefront’s School Mental Health Specialist, who supports schools in the program. “We’ve combined the insights and knowledge from Forefront’s work in Washington state with JED’s stellar reputation as a resource and programming partner in mental health promotion. We know how busy schools are, so we take intentional steps to ensure we are working within a school’s capacity. We emphasize the importance of building an interdisciplinary team, as suicide prevention requires all of us working together.” 

Tracie Kelly, Assistant Principal at Cedarcrest High School, says, “The work of JED High School Delivered by Forefront Suicide Prevention is a research-based holistic approach to suicide prevention that builds off the schools’ existing systems and strengths. The framework provides guidance for what needs to be in place to best support the mental health of students, while being flexible enough for the work to be tailored to the specific needs of each school community. The work we are doing with Forefront and JED is making a difference!” 

Flores agrees. “Through the data collected and analyzed by The Jed Foundation, I’ve seen schools take a variety of steps, both big and small, to implement changes in their communities,” she says. “These include prioritizing faculty and staff wellness, increasing outreach, strengthening partnerships with parents and caregivers, building school crisis plans, or adding social connection times during lunch periods for students to reduce isolation. In the long run, it’s our goal to see this impact reflected in school data. But for now, it’s incredibly rewarding to see the immediate impact of our partnership on schools.” 

JED praised the impactful partnership. “Teens spend a great deal of their time in school, an environment that has the power to significantly support and advance student emotional well-being. Creating a culture of care where young people feel comfortable asking for help can have a huge positive impact on students and help them thrive,” says Tony Walker, JED’s Senior Vice President of Academic Programs. “JED High School Delivered by Forefront Suicide Prevention offers lifesaving resources as part of this three-year technical assistance program for participating Washington state high schools. JED’s innovative programming, combined with Forefront’s deep local expertise, has been a great success, and we are excited about what the 2024-25 school year will bring.”  

We are excited to see how we can continue to leverage our partnership and improve the landscape of youth mental health and suicide prevention in Washington state schools. 

A new paper, Implementing LEARN: Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Training for High School Students, Parents, and School Personnel, published today in the Journal of School Health, shows the efficacy of Forefront Suicide Prevention LEARN® gatekeeper training in high school communities. High school educators, students, and families who participated in peer-led trainings reported an increased likelihood in participating in each of the five LEARN steps, as a result of attending peer-led trainings. They also indicated a high level of satisfaction with their peer trainers.

For years, schools participating in Forefront in the Schools have told us that our program, especially peer-led LEARN trainings, makes a difference. It’s great to see this anecdotal feedback is supported by robust data.

“Roosevelt implemented the Forefront Program at our school starting in 2015. The program has provided us with a structure for suicide prevention with students and families within our community.  Our teachers, administrators, families and students are well educated in suicide prevention. Forefront in the schools has taught us as a community to have conversations about suicide, which has saved lives, we are grateful we are partners with this exceptional program.”  -Erin Bailey, Academic Intervention Specialist, Roosevelt High School. 

“As a counseling department, specifically, we have always prioritized Suicide Prevention; it’s always been at the forefront of our programming. But having Forefront, for the last two years has really helped bring in other educator roles on campus. Specifically, getting admin really invested and prioritizing this, incorporating teacher leaders as well as students…It’s been great to see a shift from solely living in the counseling world to a more campus-wide effort to address Suicide Prevention.” – Jenn, Counselor, Tyee High School 

Congratulations (and thank you!) to our research team for their work! Read more about our research & evaluation.

This week, we introduced our new training course, Fundamentals of Community-Based Suicide Prevention.

This series of seven videos is available to stream on demand via our website.

Federal agencies have recommended that communities take a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention, but some state and community partners have expressed uncertainty on how to implement this.

In response, we have developed a seven-part training course, which provides a roadmap and outlines strategies for implementing a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention, in alignment with the new 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. We hope it helps those who participate in community-based suicide prevention understand how to engage with this important work.

The seven sessions are a comprehensive curriculum, but can also work as stand-alone trainings, covering the following topics:

1. Introduction: Characteristics of Suicide and Challenges in Prevention
2. Overview of Suicide Prevention: The Public Health Approach and Comprehensive Programming
3. Messaging and Communications: Framework for Successful Messaging
4. Connectedness in Suicide Prevention
5. Recognition and Referral: Gatekeeper Role in Suicide Prevention
6. Lethal Means Safety: Firearms and Suicide Risk
7. Health Care Settings: Suicide Care and the Zero Suicide Framework

Developed and presented for Forefront by Dr. Jeffrey C. Sung, in partnership with the Washington State Department of Health, the series is free to stream on demand, and open to anyone with an interest in suicide prevention. Up to seven Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available for Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapists, and Licensed Mental Health Counselors. 

The Nate Chute Foundation (NCF) is a non-profit organization that promotes mental wellness and suicide prevention in Western Montana.

Nate Chute Foundation started in 1999 as an all-volunteer grassroots organization supporting community needs as they arose. Now, it offers suicide prevention and mental health training and education programs to schools, workplaces, and community organizations, financial aid towards the cost of behavioral health therapy for families in need, and provides care packages for those recently bereaved by suicide. In 2022, they trained over 3,000 people across all their programs, and 119 students were connected with additional support as a result of participating in a Nate Chute Foundation training.

Previously, NCF had worked with other organizations to deliver their suicide prevention trainings. They approached Forefront in the summer of 2023, to explore whether we could partner on bringing Forefront in the Schools to Montana. However, as we weren’t ready for our FIS to cross state borders, we suggested using our Forefront Suicide Prevention LEARN® trainings instead, using our Community LEARN for their general community trainings and our School LEARN trainings for parents and Educators.

One of the unique aspects of LEARN is our emphasis on lethal means safety information. We include this because reducing or removing access to an individual’s chosen method during a time of crisis can help prevent suicides and save lives. Nate Chute Foundation’s team were delighted to find that the way we talk about this is effective for their communities in Montana.

“The Nate Chute Foundation began collaborating with Forefront and the LEARN curriculum after searching the nation for a program with a strong evidence base, approachable staff, and modern materials,” says Jenny Cloutier, NCF Program Director.

After working with us last summer to customize our curriculum for their organization and undergoing Training of Trainers, they started presenting LEARN to the communities they support in September 2023. So far, feedback has been extremely positive!

Jenny Cloutier says, “The feedback we have received from our community has been overwhelmingly positive, with many testimonials on how useful the skills they learned were, and that many individuals have felt they have the knowledge to reach out to those in need.” For our part, Forefront is thrilled to partner with the Nate Chute Foundation to share our LEARN curriculum and suicide prevention messaging with Montanans.

Emma Mallonee, Forefront Deputy Director and Training Director, said, “We’re thrilled to partner with Nate Chute Foundation because our organizations’ missions align so well. We are both focused on education and support to the communities we serve, to help them reduce suicide. The Nate Chute Foundation’s mission ‘supports, educates, and empowers our community to promote mental wellness and reduce suicide,’ while ours is ‘to help people take action to prevent suicide in their communities.’ We look forward to continuing our partnership to share our message of hope and help more Montanans learn how to prevent suicide in their communities.”

What a day! On Friday March 22, Forefront in the Schools welcomed nearly 150 students and staff from schools across the Puget Sound region for Day of Hope. This is one of our favorite events every single year, bringing together schools in our program to share their work on comprehensive suicide prevention in their communities, including stories of belonging, care, and resilience. 

Day of Hope is an opportunity to connect, celebrate, and learn new skills for students and staff participating in Forefront’s school-based programing.

A highlight was keynote speaker Jen Kulik, PhD (SilverKite Community Arts), who talked about the importance of connection as a protective factor against social isolation and loneliness, and how you can build connection through play and the arts—especially theatre. Crisis Connections and NAMI Washington shared resources, messages of hope, and tangible suggestions for how young people can support each other. Educators participated in a community of practice around prevention in their schools, sharing information, successes, and ideas—and came away wanting more time to connect with each other across school communities. Lunch brought opportunities to connect and celebrate in different ways when Muckleshoot Tribal School representatives shared a traditional prayer with the community, and UW mascot Dubs II joined us for photos and puppy love.

 And most important of all – students from each school shared stories about the work they have done in their school communities this year to promote suicide prevention and mental health. From building connections through affinity spaces, promoting schoolwide campaigns, and even an op-ed in The Seattle Times, we were thrilled to celebrate their successes! 

We are grateful for the opportunity to work with all participating schools, whose work makes us hopeful for the future! In addition, Forefront is especially thankful to foundry10 for underwriting Day of Hope 2024 and to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for their continued partnership around our school-based programs.