Tanana Chiefs wins federal grant for suicide prevention in 15 villages

Of 122 youth referred to Tanana Chiefs Conference behavioral health services in 2025, only 76 were admitted to treatment. The federal government has now awarded TCC $735,000 a year to close that gap across 15 rural Alaska Native communities in the Interior.

The suicide rate in TCC's service area is 37.5 per 100,000, according to the consortium's application, nearly three times the national rate of 13.7 and above Alaska's statewide rate of 29.9. TCC serves 39 communities across 235,000 square miles, with no road connecting most villages to regional hub cities.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant runs five years, through September 2031, for a total of $3.675 million. The program, called Strength in the Circle, will work intensively with three communities a year, with a project director and three prevention coordinators making monthly community visits.

Planned work includes suicide risk screening in schools and clinics, gatekeeper and youth mental health training, lethal means safety counseling, an anonymous reporting platform and 72-hour warm handoff protocols for youth ages 10 to 24.

That screening-and-referral model is not the only approach researchers point to. A 2020 study of suicide in rural Alaska found that only 8% of people who died had ever accessed mental health care, and its authors argued prevention should draw on traditional healers, families and community networks rather than clinic referrals alone.

SAMHSA also awarded $250,000 to Ninilchik Village for a five-year youth suicide prevention program serving Ninilchik and the surrounding area.