Julie Goldstein Grumet and Alex Karydi will share practical approaches for strengthening youth safety planning, with a focus on implementation, family engagement, and cross-system collaboration.
About the Conference
The Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) State/Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Grant Program supports states and tribes in implementing youth suicide prevention strategies, providing early intervention, and building cross-system care coordination.
Julie Goldstein Grument, Director of the Zero Suicide Institute, Senior Health Care Advisor for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, and Vice President of Suicide Prevention Strategy at EDC (Education Development Center).
Session
"Youth Safety Planning in the Real World: Buy-In, Family Engagement, and Implementation Challenges for GLS Grantees"
Julie Goldstein Grumet & Alex Karydi | Thursday, August 6th at 1:30–3:00 PM
Safety planning is a core expectation in youth suicide prevention work, but implementing it well can be more complicated than completing a form or training staff. GLS grantees often have to navigate partner buy-in, school and community workflows, caregiver involvement, confidentiality, staff confidence, documentation expectations, and follow-up processes across multiple settings. This session will focus on practical strategies for strengthening youth safety planning as a meaningful, youth-centered intervention. Participants will explore common implementation barriers, strategies for engaging families and partners, ways to improve plan quality and usability, and opportunities for evaluators to help assess reach, consistency, and usefulness.
Resources
Zero Suicide Institute
EDC's Zero Suicide Toolkit
Get practical tools, resources, and guidance to help your health and behavioral health organization implement the Zero Suicide framework and improve care for people at risk for suicide.
Access the Zero Suicide Toolkit
Supporting Parents Resources & "After Your Child's Suicide Attempt" film
Multi-Tiered Suicide Prevention (MTSP) for Schools
Other Suicide Prevention Resources
EDC's Parents to Parents: After Your Child's Suicide Attempt video
SPRC's Safety Planning for Youth Suicide Prevention course
SPRC's Preventing Suicide: The Role of High School Mental Health Providers
SPRC's Preventing Suicide: The Role of High School Teachers
SPRC's Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention for LGBTQIA2S+ Youth
SPRC's After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools, Second Edition
Dr. Julie Goldstein Grumet, Director of Zero Suicide at EDC, provides strategic direction to healthcare systems to improve the identification and treatment of people at risk for suicide.
Alex Karydi is an EDC project director and expert in substance misuse treatment and suicide prevention who leads the Suicide Prevention Resource Center's States and Territories Initiative and previously led development of the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention endorsed by the White House.