FL LINC (Florida Linking Individuals Needing Care) Project
Project Overview
Associate Professor Marc Karver, PhD of the University of South Florida and Assistant Professor, Kim Gryglewicz, PhD, MSW of the University of Central Florida have received a five year, 3.68 million dollar federal grant awarded to the University of South/Central Florida, the Florida Council of Community Mental Health, and the Statewide Office of Suicide Prevention (SOSP) to continue to advance suicide prevention efforts throughout the state of Florida.
This FL LINC project builds off the work of two prior federally funded projects: the Florida Adolescent Suicide Awareness and Prevention Project (FL ASAP) and the Florida Youth Suicide Prevention (FLYSP) Project (federal dollars awarded to these project totals 2.94 million). The project focuses on reducing youth suicides (10-24 years of age) by improving training, outreach, and service delivery standards for families and professionals who work with at-risk youth and their families. Prevention efforts will target specific service sectors/settings, including (but not limited to) substance abuse, mental health, schools, primary care, emergency departments, and inpatient psychiatric settings and with the following at-risk youth (10-24) populations: young adults not in school, youths involved with juvenile justice and foster care, military families, survivors of suicide attempts and loss, LGBTQ youth, American Indian/Alaskan Native and Latino youths.
The purpose of the FL LINC project is to:
(1) Strengthen collaboration and integration of suicide prevention and early mental health intervention programs among local and state-level partners;
(2) Coordinate the adoption and integration of suicide prevention and crisis response strategies into workforce settings;
(3) Promote safe and positive messaging about behavioral health prevention, mental and substance disorders, treatment, and recovery support services;
(4) Implement and evaluate culturally competent, evidence-based and promising practices/programs that focus on early mental health intervention; substance abuse detection and prevention; mental health wellness, resiliency, and recovery; and, suicide prevention to youth families and youth-serving sectors;
(5) Strengthen systems of care by improving continuity of care standards to link and follow-up with at-risk youth; and,
(6) Reduce suicide mortality and morbidity among FL’s youth/young adult population
The FL LINC project will partner with 3 Managing Entities throughout the state, covering a total of 32 Florida counties: 1) Lutheran Services of Florida, which serves 23 counties in Northeast FL, 2) Central Florida Cares, which serves 4 counties surrounding the greater Orlando area, and 3) Southeast FL Behavioral Network, which serves 5 counties on the east coast of Florida north of Ft. Lauderdale.
