APS was awarded a grant from Bernalillo County's Behavioral Health Initiative. This grant funds the extra-curricular APS Peer Helpers Program at 21 APS schools. 21 schools have one (or two) adult sponsors who are trained in suicide-prevention, positive youth development, and peer-helping skills.

Students at the 21 APS sites nominate other students who they see as honest, trustworthy, and caring. The nominated students are invited to join the APS Peer Helpers Program, based on the premise that when young people have problems, they most often turn to friends for help, and within every school, an informal “helping network” exists. APS Peer Helper Programs are student led.

The APS Peer Helpers Program provides monthly outreach & two large events for their school community, focused on suicide-prevention. Throughout the academic year, APS Peer Helpers & their sponsors attend bi-weekly meetings with training focused on suicide-prevention, positive youth development, and peer-helping skills. Ultimately, their training serves to enhance the helping skills that Peer Helpers already use with their friends. Peer Helpers learn to recognize their own limits as helpers, and can be the link that is needed between young people and professional help.

• Suicide was the 8th leading cause of death among New Mexico residents in 2018.

• Among those 15-17 years, suicide was the leading cause of death by age group.

• Among those 5-14 and 18-34 years, suicide was the second leading cause of death by age group.

• New Mexico's rate has consistently been more than 50 percent higher than the U.S. rate.

• New Mexico suicide rates increased by 37 percent from 2009-2018.

• New Mexico had the 4th highest suicide rate in the United States in 2017.

(Source: New Mexico Department of Health Fact Sheet, January 2020)