Jackson Free Press

Indian Youth Telemental Health Demonstration Project
Help prevent suicide among American Indian and Alaskan Native youth

American Indian & Alaskan Native youth between the ages of 15 and 24 have a rate of suicide almost twice the national youth average. While suicide ranks as the third-leading cause of death for youth of all races between the ages of 10 and 24, it ranks as the second-leading cause of death for American Indians & Alaskan Natives between the ages of 10 and 34. Research indicates that more than half of people who die by suicide in Indian Country have never seen a mental health provider. Many American Indian & Alaskan Native communities are isolated and have limited access to mental health care professionals.

On February 6th, Senator Dorgan of North Dakota introduced the Indian Youth Telemental Health Demonstration Project Act of 2006 (S. 2245). This bill aims to address the problem of access to mental health services in Indian Country by using electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long distance mental health care, patient and professional-related education, public health, and health administration. The bill would establish a demonstration project to test the use of telemental health services in suicide prevention, intervention, and treatment of Indian youth. It would create a grant program for Indian tribes and tribal organizations to:

- provide telemental health services to Indian youth,
- assist clinicians treating Indian youth with mental health problems,
- train individuals working with Indian youth to identify those at risk and intervene appropriately, and
- develop and distribute culturally-appropriate community educational materials on suicide prevention and intervention

Please take a moment to ask your Senators to co-sponsor this important legislation.

Use the link to send an email to your senators: http://capwiz.com/spanusa/issues/alert/?alertid=8483711&type=CO