Youth Suicide Prevention Center

Our dedicated team not only identifies youth at risk for suicide but also conducts vital research and provides training to ensure life-saving care and prevention strategies are accessible to all.

Steven C. Rogers, MD, MS
Medical Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician 

Kevin Borrup, DrPH, JD, MPA
Director of Operations 

Cara During
Assistant Manager, Suicide Prevention

Kristen Volz-Spessard, MS
Program Specialist
Question, Persuade, Refer Gatekeeper Instructor 

Nicholas Marinelli, MPA
Program Specialist of Fresh Check Day

Isabella Baldino, BS
Program Assistant of Fresh Check Day

At Connecticut Children’s, our research is dedicated to early identification, intervention, and the development of protective factors to prevent youth suicide. We are committed to advancing best practices in suicide screening and prevention, with a focus on improving healthcare systems nationwide. Our current research priorities include:

• Guiding the development of a National Research Agenda on Emergency Mental Healthcare and Suicide Prevention for youth.
• Developing a tablet-based behavioral health screening tool for use in the Emergency Department to improve screening efficiency and accuracy.
• Expanding universal suicide screening for adolescents across Connecticut Children’s to ensure every patient at risk is identified and receives timely care.
• Evaluating the rate of return for at-risk patients within the Emergency Department to better understand follow-up and outcomes for these vulnerable youth.
• Creating validated safety planning educational modules for patients, caregivers, and providers to equip them with tools for managing suicide risk.
• Researching the potential associations between obesity and suicide risk, aiming to understand how physical health factors contribute to mental health challenges in youth.

Through these initiatives, we continue to lead in transformative suicide prevention research, helping to shape effective strategies and improve outcomes for youth at risk.

Publications

• Rogers SC, Sacco SJ, Volz K, Chenard D, Borrup K, Chen K, et al. (2025) Feasibility and importance of universal suicide screening in a pediatric emergency department. PLoS ONE 20(4): e0321934. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321934
• Publication: Feasibility and importance of universal suicide screening in a pediatric emergency department.
• Description: This study presents the results from the implementation of a two-year universal suicide-screening program comprised of a clinical pathway that combined the ASQ and C-BSSRS in an urban pediatric ED serving a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse patient population. The combined screening tool protocol appeared to enhance efficiency while maintaining clinical accuracy. Of the 17,332 unique patients screened, 83.9% were at minimal suicide risk, 7.0% low risk, 2.1% moderate risk, and 7.0% high risk. In the 6 months following screening, low-risk patients returning to the emergency department were 7.1 times more likely to have a suicide attempt than minimal-risk patients, moderate-risk patients were 9.8 times more likely, and high-risk patients were 15.5 times more likely.  Universal screening identified a substantial proportion of pediatric emergency department patients at risk of subsequent suicide attempts, with the likelihood of a subsequent attempt strongly linked to increasing risk levels identified by screening. 

Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) Bystander Intervention Training
QPR is a proven training method for preventing suicide, available to all adults in Connecticut. This training equips participants to recognize warning signs, intervene effectively, and connect those at risk with the appropriate support, empowering them to serve as "gatekeepers" for those in need. 

Training to Establish an Alliance Centered on Hope” (TEACH), is a training grant that offers a bystander intervention training, Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR), to individuals across Connecticut Children’s and throughout Connecticut. QPR teaches three essential steps to potentially save a life from suicide, turning participants into "gatekeepers" within their communities. From this training, participants learn about common causes of suicidal behavior, recognize warning signs, and gain skills to seek help for themselves or someone in crisis.

If you are interested in a training session, please contact TEACH at teachQPR [at] connecticutchildrens.org.

• Steve Rogers, MD, MS was the recipient of the Principal Investigator of the Year 2025 at the Injury Free Coalition for Kids 30th Annual Conference
  • As Co-PI for Injury Free Coalition for kids- Hartford and member of the national board, he has played a key role in advancing safer, healthier communities. A pediatric emergency physician and certified child passenger safety technician, he brings a multidisciplinary lens to injury prevention, blending clinical care, behavioral health, research, and advocacy. His work focuses on preventing youth suicide and behavioral health crises in emergency settings while advancing injury prevention more broadly. Colleagues describe him as a "constant champion of children" whose leadership has transformed approaches to pediatric mental health and safety.
     
• Steve Rogers, MD, MS was the recipient of the 2023 Roger J. Tierney Award by the American Association of Suicidology for applied contributions to the field of suicidology
  • The Roger J. Tierney Service Award recognizes time and effort given to advance the association’s principles, growth and development, and/or for applied contributions to the fields of suicidology and crisis intervention.