Factors That Increase Suicide Attempts (Overall)

• Adverse Childhood Experiences
• Lack of access to quality mental health services for youth
• Substance abuse
• Unhealthy social media consumption
• Feelings of isolation, rejection, or abandonment from nuclear or extended family or peer groups (especially true during distance learning periods due to COVID-19)
• Missed signs of severe depression due to stereotypes of adolescent behavior

Factors That Decrease Suicide Attempts (Overall)

• Educator access to mental health training and suicide prevention programs
• Prevention programs aimed at removing/limiting access to objects used for self-harm
• Publicly funded suicide prevention grants
• Activation and access to the National Teen suicide hotline/crisis call center
• Suicide awarness campaigns

Please review the attachment for Historical and contextual information about Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. 

Mitigating Factors: Reducing Suicide Attempts for Native Hawaiian (NH) & Pacific Islander (PI) Communities)

• Culture-based programming that reinforces family and collective values while building community support systems
• Professional development for school and community responders in suicide prevention 
• Culture-based restorative justice programming
• ‘Āina-based education that develops connections to place and introduces traditional roles and responsibilities 
• College and Career programs that emphasize diverse literacies and roles in the community
• Early intervention programs for youth suicide 

Causal Factors: Increasing Suicide Attempts for Native Hawaiian (NH) & Pacific Islander (PI) Communities)

• Generational poverty, trauma, depression, and mental health challenges 
• Substance and alcohol abuse
• Loss of traditional roles and responsibilities in society as a result of Colonization, cultural genocide, and the introduction of land ownership rather than land stewardship
• Inequitable access to higher education opportunities. Students whose parents did not go to college are 2x as likely to attempt suicide 
• Transition points confound NHPI males whose teen suicide attempts are highest in grades 9 and 12 
• 9th and 12th grade male teens have higher sucicide attempts due to stresses of transitioning from middle school and out of high school

Systemic Factors Creating Disparities Between NHPI and non-NHPI Teens

• Limited access to trauma-informed care and approaches
• Colonial education models disassociate youth from success and self-worth
• Overrepresentation of NHPI in the criminal justice system
• Restorative justice programs positioned as “last chance” opportunities
• Barriers to higher education have created the largest college aspiration-participation gap 
• Cultural conflict between home culture and western systems of capitalism associated with achievement gap and school to prison pipeline 

Community-based Organizations (CBOs)- Culturally Inclusive Suicide Prevention Training and ʻāina-based programs

• Kaua‘i Resilience Project
• huiMAU
• Hāmākua Youth Center
• CBOs of Hawaiʻi Peoples Fund
• Partners in Development Foundation
• Ke Kumu ʻĀina Program of The Kohala Center
• The Friendship Bench
• Puna Strong Grantees- Youth Organizations

Development and Promotion of Restorative Justice and Trauma-Informed Care programs 

• Men of Pa‘a Program of Kanaka o Puna 
• Lili'uokalani Trust
• Kamehameha Schools- Community Strategy Division
• We Are Oceania (Specifically connections to Micronesian Communities)
• Going Home Hawai‘i
• Rural Health Clinics (Bay Clinic, HKHC, WHCHC)
• Project KOKO- Youth Mental Health Trainings

State-wide Partners in Education System

• University of Hawaiʻi P20 College & Career Program
• Hawaii Dept Of Education- Office of Hawaiian Education
• Hawaiʻi-Island Complex Area Superintendents
• Hawaii Dept of Education- Health Education Island Lead

Community Level

• Youth Mental Health First Aid Training in the community (low cost strategy)
• ‘Āina-based education that addresses conditions of cultural dissonance and suicide ideation
• Culture-based screening and suicide intervention programs (i.e., Ho‘oponopono CBOs) (low cost strategy)
• Community-based training in suicide prevention (low cost strategy)
• Social media campaigns to reduce mental health stigma (low-cost strategy)
• Culturally-based family strengthening programs (low cost strategy)
• Hoʻoponopono- traditional Hawaiian healing practices that incorporate ecosystems of support
• Resilience Hubs with supporting and trained staff to respond to teens in crisis

School Level

• Programs and policies that focus on students self-worth and sense of belonging
• ‘Āina- and culture-based resources and programs with special focus at transition points
• College, Career and Community Readiness programs that develop roles and responsibilities within the community and promote diverse literacies
• Partnerships with ʻāina-based community organizations (low cost strategy)
• Gap Year resources for graduating high school seniors
• Professional development to promote mental health and decolonizing education models

County/State Level 

• Access to low-cost to no-cost mental health and family counseling services 
• Substance, alcohol, and tobacco cessation programs for youth and their families
• Mental health training and suicide intervention to inform practices, projects, programs, and policies
• Core-four (Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies) curriculum development embedded in ‘āina, Hawaiian language, and cultural practices
• Alternative programming for traditional healing practices
• Access to early college and dual enrollment courses in ‘āina, Hawaiian language, and cultural practices (low cost strategy)

Innovative Actions/Off-the-Wall

• Distribute "breathing sticks" to help regulate breathing and promote mindfulness
• Create teen mental health Hawai‘i hotline/email staffed by trained peer mentors (vs national hotline) (low cost strategy)
• Create video public service announcement video highlighting community connections for teen wellbeing
• Lobby legistalture to declare a period Hawai‘i Teen Mental Health Awareness Week (low cost strategy)

This is a collective response to strengthen communities and increase their capacity to support and nourish their individual members. Our organization creates value around health and well-being, which includes both proactive and reactive strategies to address the underlying conditions and outcomes of suicide ideation in Hawaiʻi's teens.