JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The state health department says it has received a $1.4 million grant to strengthen Alaska's youth suicide prevention program.
The department, in a news release, says the federal grant will help groups statewide offer suicide prevention training and develop prevention tools for their communities. Melissa Stone, director of the department's behavioral health division, says such efforts are crucial to preventing suicide among Alaska youth, for whom the suicide rate is higher than the national average.
The department says the state's suicide prevention efforts have gotten a boost of nearly $2 million, between the grant and $450,000 from the Legislature for school-based suicide prevention training.
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