Forefront in the Schools
Suicide is a preventable public health problem and a leading cause of death among youth. If you are reading this, chances are you’re prepared to take action.
Forefront in the Schools, founded in 2015, offers a multi-year program that helps schools across Washington implement a comprehensive approach to youth mental health and suicide prevention. Our model includes training for teachers, parents/caregivers, counselors and students; crisis planning tools; strengthening links to community supports; and elevating student voices, with an emphasis on social emotional learning and wellbeing.
Program Overview
Our program involves a combination of steps and strategies that begin with assessment, capacity building, readiness to address prevention needs and planning.
Building and sustaining a comprehensive model that fits within a tiered prevention framework takes time and leadership. Elements that are crucial to success are: support from leadership, self-paced learning with a clear road map, coaching, technical assistance, training, and resources. With our programming and support, schools successfully implement comprehensive suicide prevention programs.
Full Program Benefits
✔ Team-driven, shared leadership
✔ Family, student and community engagement
✔ Access to online resources, customized coaching and consultation
✔ Collaborative learning model that extends support across all participating schools
✔ Expanded use of data and evaluation to help inform decision-making
Phased Model
We use a phased model to guide new schools through our program. Participating schools are asked to demonstrate competence for each phase before proceeding to the next stage of the program.
Looking for Suicide Crisis Prevention Planning or Forefront in the Schools Program Info?
Crisis Prevention Planning
Since 2015, our mission has helped schools in developing suicide prevention protocols that align with Washington state’s plan for recognition, screening, and response to emotional and/or behavioral distress in students. This includes protocols for recognition, screening, re-entry and postvention. Our tools are designed to help map your progress towards this state mandate. For schools interested in developing a comprehensive suicide prevention plan to help protect the health and well-being of your students, please visit the following pages: Model District Template – OSPI, Crisis Planning – Forefront.
Interested in Forefront’s School Based Programming?
At this time, we are not onboarding new schools into our Forefront in the Schools Program. If you would like to add your name to our list of schools interested in participating, please complete our FIS Program Interest Form. If we can secure additional funding, we will contact you.
For a one-time brief consultation regarding your crisis prevention plan, please reach out here: forefrontschools@uw.edu. We are a small team, so please know that we will do our best to respond in a timely manner.