ABSTRACT

Youth suicide research, and research in health disparities generally, rarely pursue a semantic exploration of “prevention” and related health care terminology and concepts. Definitions and views on prevention and intervention are discussed, outlining a basic treatment model for suicide prevention held within the community that emphasizes the individual as the primary agent for both healing and risk—essentially constructing an “at-risk identity” (at risk identity also explored throughout Chapters 3, 4, and 5. This model is juxtaposed with indigenous treatment models, which inherently implicate community trends, socioeconomic, and sociohistorical determinants of health, such as colonialism (boarding schools, forced or coerced relocation, loss of identity), impact of social media and communication platforms on interpersonal communication (texting, Facebook), and need for community-wide return to spiritual traditions as the forces responsible for suicide ideation and risk.