From June 2019 through June 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Mental Health Substance Abuse Services (DHS-OMHSAS) implemented a grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) focused on continuity of care for youth at risk of suicide. Based on the Zero Suicide Framework, members of the Pennsylvania Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) Youth Suicide Prevention Grant team worked with nine counties and one joinder county to create county-specific strategic plans. This toolkit is meant to be a resource for counties and suicide prevention task forces that are interested in improving local collaboration around youth suicide prevention.

From 2020 through 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Mental Health Substance Abuse Services received a National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP) grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) focused on continuity of care for adults at risk of suicide by enhancing collaboration with key community stakeholders. Based on the Zero Suicide Framework, members of the Pennsylvania NSSP grant team worked with 12 counties to help them conduct needs assessments and create county-specific strategic plans. This toolkit is one result of that work and provides a roadmap for others who are interested in duplicating this process conducted by counties.

In communities facing behavioral health and public safety challenges, the need for innovative and collaborative approaches to enhance safety and well-being in terms of behavioral health becomes increasingly evident. The HUB model represents a transformative multi-agency approach that is designed to meet this need head-on. At its core, the HUB envisions a collective effort where sharing information and collaboration between systems becomes a powerful tool for holistic behavioral health intervention and support. This guide focuses specifically on starting a HUB to address unmet behavioral health needs and behavioral health crisis situations.