Project Lift Up

Project Lift Up is a national longitudinal study of almost 5,000 youth and young adults across the United States funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (PI Kimberly Mitchell and PI Victoria Banyard). The project was designed to understand awareness of suicidal behavior among social networks, helping (“bystander”) behaviors, and personal impact overtime. Important contextual factors are also measured, including personal self-directed violence, help-seeking, social and structural determinants of health, and personal strengths and resiliency. Survey data are supplemented with interviews with professionals in the fields of mental health and prevention, as well as with youth themselves about barriers that prevent and contexts that promote helping specific to self-directed violence as well as recommendations related to prevention training. Findings from Project Lift Up will identify ways to improve youth identification of and responses to persons at risk for self-directed violence in ways that reduce personal risk for themselves and others. A better understanding of the impact of helping will enhance prevention efforts to teach and assess self-care and support for bystanders themselves. Our project team includes Michele Ybarra, Julie Cerel, Lisa Jones, Linda Oshin, Shira Dunsiger, Haylee Foster, Elton Ortiz, Maggie Crean, Tori Schofield, and Gabriela Crinigan. The study is hosted at the University of New Hampshire with team members from Rutgers University, the Center for Innovative Public Health Research, University of Kentucky, and Brown University. Together, we are excited to create a space on this network and will be regularly sharing the work we are doing on this project.