��Safe and Effective Youth Suicide Prevention Education:�The MAD HOPE Youth Suicide Prevention and Mental Well-Being Education Program
Connection in Chaos: Virtual Rural Prevention Summit
January 22, 2026
About Amy:
OUR TEAM
Washington State Healthy Youth Survey
2023 Data
www.askhys.net
53%
Program Information
Program History
2012
June 2025
Good for five years; then will need to reapply
MAD HOPE Program Structure
Service Area
Foundations of the�MAD HOPE Curriculum
Prevention Science
Equiate TV. (2013, May 17.) Upstream Public Health [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/xYeAmafTGCA?si=gky6JjkDOmv_tcxd
What many people see as suicide prevention:
Successful Suicide Prevention Using Upstream Approach:
MAD HOPE Curriculum:
Linkenback, J.W. (2023). The Montana Institute. The Montana Institute. http://www.montanainstitute.com/
Hope Research Center: The University of Oklahoma-Tulsa. (2022, June 2). The University of Oklahoma. http://www.ou.edu/tulsa/hope
Gwinn, C and Hellman, C. (2018). Hope rising: How the science of hope can change your life. Morgan James Publishing.
Suicide Prevention Safe Messaging
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. (2020) Best Practices and Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide. Reporting on Suicide. https://reportingonsuicide.org/
National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. (2019). Framework for Successful Messaging. National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. https://suicidepreventionmessaging.org/safety
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. (2020) Best Practices and Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide. Reporting on Suicide. https://reportingonsuicide.org/
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. (2020) Best Practices and Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide. Reporting on Suicide. https://reportingonsuicide.org/
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. (2020) Best Practices and Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide. Reporting on Suicide. https://reportingonsuicide.org/
Best Practices in Youth Suicide Prevention Education
=presented in existing classrooms
= small groups, clear roles, teacher empowerment, invite additional school staff to sit in
= coloring, pipe cleaners
= start by creating group Agreements,
OPTIONAL PARTICIPATION
28
= scripted curriculum, highly trained trainers, curated topics, no personal stories from trainers or students
= three hours required, no personal stories from trainers or students
= Daily feelings scales, time with trainers before diving into difficult topics (three day curriculum)
= guided discussion, lots of activities, different ways to participate
= three days, start with lower stakes topics first
29
MAD HOPE Curriculum
Middle School Curriculum vs High School Curriculum
Curriculum is identical with the exception of three sections:
Interactive Activities
Daily Feelings Scales
Seize the Awkward and The Ad Council. (n.d.) We Can Talk About It: 60 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcI2wHKbzGo
Packet Pages
Role Plays
“What if YOU were Q?”
Student Care
Due to the sensitive nature of the topics discussed during the MAD HOPE training, it is important to respect each student’s choice around participation. It is never appropriate during these trainings to call on a student that has not volunteered. Students will be allowed to put their head down, work on other work, color or utilize a fidget- anything they need that does not disturb another student. Students may be listening and benefitting from the training even when they don’t appear to be engaged in traditional ways.
From our Partnership Agreement materials,
sent to teachers the week before trainings
From our Partnership Agreement materials, sent to teachers the week before trainings
Data
2024-2025
School Year
From School Staff
Feedback Forms
From Student
Feedback Forms
From Student
Feedback Forms
QUESTIONS?
Amy Dunham
managermadhope@wfcn.org
@MadHopeWhatcom
on Instagram
www.MadHope.org