This culturally relevant curriculum was developed to teach American Indian secondary school students coping and suicide prevention skills. Although the curriculum was designed for high school students, many of the lesson plans and activities can be used with middle school students. The goal is to address the significant problem of suicide among American Indian adolescents and to help students understand and feel comfortable talking about issues such as depression, stress, anger, sexuality, and grieving. The introduction covers special concerns in teaching about suicide, guidelines for implementing the curriculum, and a checklist for assessing suicide risk. The guide consists of 7 sections that include 37 lesson plans. Sections cover the following topics: building self-esteem; identifying feelings, emotions, and life stressors; developing effective communication and problem-solving skills; recognizing and eliminating self-destructive behavior; exploring reasons why people attempt suicide; identifying ways to help friends who are considering suicide; and planning for the future. Lesson plans include objectives, instructional materials, suggested time frames, lesson content, and learning activities. Learning activities focus on developing social skills and include information on the rationale and components of a particular skill, modeling and demonstration of a skill, skill practice, and feedback on individual skill performance. Includes student knowledge test, glossary, and index. (LP)