6. Strengthening Suicide Prevention for Older Adults: State Innovations from SAMHSA’s Suicide Prevention Academies

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Includes a Live Web Event on 05/07/2026 at 2:15 PM (EDT)

Only available as part of a package

Suicide risk among older adults remains a critical and often underrecognized public health concern. In this session leaders from Oklahoma, New Jersey, and Alaska will share how participation in SAMSHA’s Suicide Prevention Academy strengthened their capacity to address suicide risk among older adults, including strategies to improve screening and referral pathways, engage aging network partners and individuals with lived experience, and address social isolation, chronic disease burden, and rural access challenges. Panelists will highlight lessons learned in building sustainable infrastructure, advancing health equity, and embedding suicide prevention within broader behavioral health and aging systems.

Learning Objectives:

Analyze how SAMHSA’s Suicide Prevention Academy framework strengthens cross-sector coordination between behavioral health and aging services systems to improve suicide prevention infrastructure.
Evaluate at state-implemented strategies (e.g., screening protocols, referral pathways, workforce training, community partnerships and engagement) used by Oklahoma, New Jersey, and Alaska to improve suicide risk identification and follow-up among older adults.
Develop strategies to integrate suicide prevention practices into their professional setting, leveraging principles of interprofessional collaboration, systems-level sustainability, and lived experiences.

Eligible for 1 CE with live participation

Brittany Fair, LPC, ACS, CCS

Director, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic

Oaks Integrated Care

Brittany Fair, LPC, ACS, CCS is an experienced behavioral health leader, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Clinical Supervisor. She serves as Director of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic at Oaks Integrated Care, where she oversees outpatient and care management services. With more than a decade of clinical experience, Brittany has partnered with individuals and families navigating complex behavioral health needs. She champions integrated, person-centered care and collaborates with regional committees and coalitions to enhance service coordination, strengthen systems of care, and advance equitable treatment outcomes.

Yasmin Radbod

Program Coordinator

Alaska Commission on Aging

Yasmin Radbod is a policy professional and systems strategist focused on strengthening Alaska’s aging and long-term services and supports LTSS infrastructure. Her work centers on Medicaid-funded services, workforce development, sustainable financing strategies, and policy alignment to support aging in place across Alaska. She works at the intersection of state government, tribal health systems, nonprofit and community-based organizations, and care providers to advance practical, fiscally responsible solutions that reflect Alaska’s unique geographic and demographic realities.

With a background spanning both public policy and business, Yasmin brings both legislative fluency and financial insight to complex healthcare challenges. In addition to her policy work, she leads data and communications initiatives that translate complex system issues into accessible reports, annual data publications, and public-facing materials that inform decision-making and stakeholder engagement. Her work emphasizes collaboration, operational feasibility and long-term sustainability in strengthening care systems for older Alaskans.

Julie Stearns, LCSW

Director, Zero Suicide and Quality for Crisis Services

CREOKS Health Services

Melissa Romeo

988 Program Coordinator

New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services

Pata Suyemoto, PhD (Moderator)

Co-Chair, Suicide Prevention Resource Center Lived Experience Advisory Committee

Executive Director, National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association

Dr. Pata Suyemoto is a feminist scholar, writer, educator, curriculum developer, equity trainer, mental health activist, jewelry designer, and avid bicyclist. She earned her PhD. from the University of Pennsylvania and did her research on anti-racist education and issues of race and racism. She is the Co-executive Director for the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA) and is passionate about creating awareness of the unique mental health issues AANHPI communities face and elevating the voices of people with lived mental health experience. She is also the Associate Director of Equity for the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) and the co-chair of the Greater Boston Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition. Pata is also founder and co-chair of the MCSP Alliance for Equity and one of the authors of Widening the Lens: Exploring the Role of Social Justice in Suicide Prevention – A Racial Equity Toolkit. She has spoken and written about being a suicide attempt survivor and her struggles with chronic depression and complex PTSD. Pata is a member of a number of boards and committees including the MCSP’s Executive Committee and the planning committee for the annual Asian American Mental Health Forum. She is also the chair of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s (SPRC) Lived Experience Advisory Committee (LEAC). In 2024, she won the American Association of Suicidology’s Transforming Lived Experience Award and her claim to fame is that she rode her bicycle across the country in the summer of 2012.