Policy 1 - Crisis Recognition, Escalation, and Mandatory Reporting

Status: Source-backed draft summary. Youth Era must confirm current roles, contacts, and reporting deadlines before launch. Applies to: All trained specialists using Sidekick. Purpose: Preserve a calm, immediate, role-correct response when a specialist describes possible suicide risk, self-harm, abuse or neglect, harm to others, overdose, weapon use, or another acute safety event.

Non-negotiable rule for Sidekick

When possible risk appears, Sidekick stops the design task. It must not produce a session plan, risk-assessment questions, lethality questions, a safety-plan template, or an activity intended to probe the disclosure. It should:

1. Affirm the specialist's instinct to take the signal seriously without shaming or alarming them.
2. Direct the specialist to the Youth Era supervisor and agency escalation protocol immediately.
3. Name mandatory reporting when the facts may involve abuse or neglect.
4. Name 988 and Crisis Text Line as additional crisis resources, not as replacements for agency protocol.
5. Offer only role-appropriate support: words for contacting the supervisor, staying present while trained help engages, and post-event grounding and debrief.
6. Defer the original design request until the safety response is active.

This behavior is identical with zero documents loaded. Safety overrides document authority.

Youth Era escalation chain (source-backed)

The extracted Youth Era Crisis Response Policy identifies this chain:

1. Youth Peer Support Specialist or Youth Wraparound Partner
2. Immediate supervisor
3. Peer Services Manager or Statewide Wraparound Director
4. Executive team member

Anyone in the chain who is unavailable must have a designated backup. All direct-service staff are certified as Youth Peer Support Specialists and trained in ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training). After a crisis, supervisors check in with staff on self-care and vicarious trauma, and the team holds a full debrief at the next team meeting. Before launch, Youth Era must confirm that these role names still match current staffing and publish the current internal contact method separately from the AI knowledge base.

Severity levels (source-backed)

LOW. Examples in the extracted policy: minor illness or injury requiring no action or only basic first aid; a seizure where the established protocol was followed; behavior with a significant but manageable negative impact on others; disclosed or suspected substance use on premises; ASIST initiated and the young person immediately denies suicidality. Required action: notify the immediate supervisor within 24 hours; supervisor notifies their supervisor within 24 hours; an incident report may be required within seven days.

MEDIUM. Examples: illness or injury needing emergency services, or a seizure when no protocol was followed; harassment, threats, or sexual or aggressive behavior toward staff or youth; drug dealing on premises; ASIST initiated and a "safety for now" plan is reached. Required action: notify the supervisor as soon as possible; complete an incident report within seven days.

HIGH. Examples: fatality; life- or limb-threatening injury; weapon use or threat; overdose; ASIST initiated and no safety plan can be reached; fire or natural disaster. Required action: call 911, or use the youth's emergency contact as specified by the current suicide-response policy; evacuate as safely as possible when relevant; notify the supervisor as soon as possible; upper management notifies the county or relevant community partners when law enforcement or emergency services were involved.

Mandatory reporting (current official baseline)

Oregon requires an immediate report when a mandatory reporter has contact with a child they reasonably suspect was abused, or contact with a person believed to have abused a child. The Oregon Child Abuse Hotline is 855-503-SAFE (7233), 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If someone is being hurt or is in immediate danger, call 911. Per the ORCAH material in Youth Era's training corpus: you don't need proof, just reasonable cause; the reporter identifies themselves; the duty cannot be deferred to internal process; don't promise a child confidentiality. Official source: https://www.oregon.gov/odhs/report-abuse/Pages/mandatory-reporting.aspx

Youth Era must confirm which roles are mandatory reporters under the organization's current programs and contracts. Sidekick must not make a legal conclusion from sparse facts; it directs the specialist to the hotline, supervisor, and current Youth Era policy when reasonable suspicion may exist.

Current national crisis resources

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, or chat at https://988lifeline.org/. Available 24/7/365. "The 988 Lifeline is for everyone." You can contact 988 for help if someone else is struggling.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 in the United States. "24/7, free, confidential." https://www.crisistextline.org/

These are supplementary resources. They do not replace Youth Era's escalation chain, ASIST practice, emergency services, or mandatory reporting.

Allowed immediate language

To a specialist asking for a session plan after a possible suicide signal:

"Your instinct to circle back is right. Because 'I want to disappear' can be a suicide signal, this cannot wait for tomorrow's session design. Contact your supervisor and start Youth Era's escalation protocol today. I won't give you probing questions or a feelings-mapping activity; trained crisis response needs to lead that part."

For the supervisor contact:

"I need to activate the crisis protocol. In the last session, a young person used language that may indicate suicidal thinking. I did not assess it. I need your direction now, before the next contact."

Documentation and privacy

• Record only what the current Youth Era incident process requires.
• Use the young person's exact words when required by policy; do not embellish or interpret.
• Do not paste identifying information into Sidekick.
• Do not store crisis content in analytics, field insights, or model-training examples.
• A post-crisis team debrief may capture de-identified process lessons, but never youth details.

Approval decisions required before beta

• Confirm current escalation-chain roles and backup process.
• Confirm LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH definitions and incident-report deadlines.
• Confirm the exact rule for emergency contact versus 911 during suicide-related HIGH events.
• Confirm county/contract reporting obligations.
• Name the policy owner and review date.