BOZEMAN — Montana State University received $378,000 in suicide prevention grants to expand two programs.
A $221,000 grant will improve a program that offers online videos that teach adults coping strategies to reduce anxiety and depression. The videos offered under the Thrive-Montana program are chosen based on the person’s answers to a series of questions.
Thrive-Montana was launched as a pilot project in 2017 and reached 464 people in 100 communities and was improved based on their feedback.
A $157,000 grant will allow MSU’s Center for Mental Health Research and Recovery to implement the Youth Aware of Mental Health program in the Great Falls school district. YAM has already presented awareness and resiliency strategies to more than 1,300 Montana high school students in eight schools.
Montana has been in the top five for suicide rate over the past three decades.