Youth Suicide Prevention Task Force

The Snohomish County Children's Wellness Coalition is calling on experts and passionate members of the community to join our task force on suicide prevention. The Suicide Prevention Task Force is a working group with the goal of reducing youth suicide, ideation, planning and attempts across Snohomish County. We do this by:

1. Supporting and strengthening youth suicide prevention, intervention and postvention efforts across the region.

2. Coordinating with the Department of Health, Forefront Suicide Prevention at the University of Washington, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Riverside Trauma Center, and other recognized suicide prevention organizations.

3. Enhancing coordination and providing targeted supports to youth and family serving sectors to maximize prevention efforts outside of the school day.

4. Identifying gaps to leverage resources and globally recognized best practices.

5. Providing technical assistance and training to build capacity for promoting protective factors and reducing risk factors that influence suicide through:

a. Trainings that develop adult comfort, competence and confidence in responding to distress and,

b. Forums that promote youth voice and perspectives of those with lived experience in the mental health system.

6. Identifying critical policy gaps to engage with model-policy developers like the Washington State School Directors Association, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington State Health Care Authority and other agencies.

Meetings

The Suicide Prevention Task Force meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month from 9:00am to 10:30am, with work group assignments carried out between meetings on each member's own time.

Term

The Suicide Prevention Task Force members are appointed by the task force chairs and serve a one year term. Members may be reappointed without a cap on number of terms served.