Networking and Certifying Suicide Prevention Hotlines

The summary for the Networking and Certifying Suicide Prevention Hotlines grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Networking and Certifying Suicide Prevention Hotlines: Under the authority of 520A of the Public Health Service Act, as amended, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announces the availability of funds to expand/enhance grant activities funded under the Grant for Networking and Certifying Suicide Prevention Hotlines grant announcement.The purpose of the Networking and Certifying Suicide Prevention Hotlines grant program is to manage the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a single toll-free telephone number (1-800-273-TALK) that routes calls from anywhere in the United States to a network of certified local crisis centers that can link callers to local emergency, mental health, and social service resources. The technology permits calls to be directed immediately to a suicide prevention worker who is geographically convenient to the caller. The Lifeline has developed systems to increase the number of crisis hotlines certified in suicide prevention. Networking on this scale also has enabled the development and use of response protocols and data collection standards to evaluate client- and community-centered outcomes that previously were not pursued.Supplemental funding is being provided for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline as a result of Congressional appropriations in the 2006 Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill. The primary purpose of the funding is to ensure that Lifeline has the capacity to absorb future increases in call volume, a necessity given the critical role played by Lifelines networked crisis centers during this past years devastating hurricanes and the need to accommodate the networks steadily increasing call volume. The funding will also be used to enhance the service quality of networked crisis centers and to enhance service access for at-risk groups such as American Indian/Alaska Native tribes and victims of Hurricane Katrina.At a minimum the funds awarded will be used to conduct the following activities: Increase the call volume capacity of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, ensuring its ability to absorb future increases; Improve the quality of lethality assessment among crisis centers that are networked to the Lifeline; Enhanced crisis center response to victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma; and Enhanced access/technical assistance to American Indian/Alaska Native tribes or territories.The Networking and Certifying Suicide Prevention Hotlines grant is authorized under 520A of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2010 focus area 18, Mental Health.