Projects

The underlying goals of these projects are to do research with communities, develop community education and behavioral health programs oriented toward dignity, pragmatism, and self-determination. In so doing, the work of the R2P Lab supports community learning, dialogue and action, to create hopeful opportunities for prevention, innovation and respectful interventions for wellness.

Overarching themes of the R2P Lab are:

  1. Focus on strengths within people, families, schools/institutions and communities that are resources from which to develop prevention and intervention efforts;
  2. Offer practical interventions that augment current resources and are feasible for under-resourced settings, and
  3. Support efforts to mobilize and leverage social connections to reduce risk of suicide and harmful substance use, promote safety, and support mental wellness in people’s daily lives.
Community participants generating ideas writing on poster sheets

Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide and At-Risk Substance Use (PC CARES & ASU)

PC CARES is a community health intervention created and proven in remote tribal communities and schools in Alaska.

Small prop plane in Alaska

Family Safety Net (FSN)

FSN is a firearm injury prevention intervention tailored to Alaska Native/Inupiaq communities. FSN uses screening questions to identify adults concerned about a household member and provides suicide prevention education, firearm safe storage supplies, and supportive reminder texts.

Classroom photo with an ANCHRS presentation running in Alaska

Alaska Native Community Resilience Study (ANCRS) & Alaska Native Collaborative Hub for Research on Resilience (ANCHRR)

ANCHRR examines potentially critical links between Alaska Native community-level and individual-level outcomes and explores mechanisms that create conditions to decrease individual-level suicide risk and increase well-being among Alaska Native youth. ANCRS seeks to understand the protective functioning of these community-level factors in exerting direct and moderating effects as well as the role of potential mediators of these effects.

Nenana student participant Joshua Stone

Intergenerational Dialogue Exchange and Action (IDEA)

IDEA engages young people in inquiry on local issues of critical importance to them through dialogue with peers, adults, and Elders in their community.

Elementary students

Lethal Means with Schools

With support from the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, this project developed hands-on sessions offering information and resources to participants on how to engage with parents and guardians about lethal means safety to prevent suicide.