Council Strategies & Tactics

www.SuicideAwarenessAndPreventionCouncil.org

Coordination/Collaboration/Addressing Suicide Risk in Emerging and New Ways

  • What programs or initiatives do you know of now that work to promote access to services?
  • Are there ideas from the National Strategy & CDC Strategic Directions that would be good to include?
  • What ideas do you have that could increase access?
  • Which ideas do you think we could move to “low hanging fruit?

Promote Education/Training

  • What programs or initiatives do you know of now that work to promote/provide education and training?
    • Value of Lived Experience in presenters
    • Avatar programs - Response, Kognito
    • Youth Mental Health First Aid, Student Mental Health First Aid
    • SafeOregon - did it work, was it really safe for whistle blowers?
    • Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training training for youth, especially leadership
    • Mental Health Awareness at school assemblies
    • School District Suicide Prevention Protocol and crisis team
    • Campaign to start owning the word “suicide” – use it more often, like cancer, rape, domstic violence, etc. used to be
    • Sports’ teams
    • School theater
    • Making trainings more accessible (both $ and location) – include how to access services
    • Resource guides widely available (schools, libraries, etc.), maybe even retail like the R U OK? cards
      • What other ideas do you have that could promote/provide education and training?
      • Which ideas do you think are “low hanging fruit?”
  • Increase early identification and support for people thinking about suicide
  • Increase use of behavioral health services
  • Strengthen community suicide prevention and response systems
  • Reduce access to lethal means
    • Encourage providers who interact with individuals at risk for suicide to routinely assess for access to lethal means. (NAA Goals)
    • Partner with firearm dealers and gun owner groups to incorporate suicide awareness as a basic tenet of firearm safety and responsible firearm ownership.
    • Develop and implement new safety technologies to reduce access to lethal means.
  • Improve messaging in media about suicide.
  • Deeper dive into understanding more about people who have died
  • Determine what's missing

Healthy, Connected and Empowered Individuals, Families, and Communities

  • Needs assessment
  • Partnership development
  • Target outreach to populations known to be at increased risk
  • Training and building a community of practice
    • What programs or initiatives do you know of now that work to promote access to services?
    • Are there ideas from the National Strategy & CDC Strategic Directions that would be good to include?
    • What ideas do you have that could increase access and use of behavioral health services and supports/systems?
  • Strengthen community suicide prevention and response systems
  • Reduce access to lethal means

Outreach, Communication, Education and Training

  • Reach all and certain segments of the population.
  • Promote positive messages and support safe crisis intervention methods online
  • Increase knowledge of warning signs and how to connect individuals in crisis with help
  • Promote wellness & recovery
  • Promote safe and fair media reporting of suicide and mental illness
  • Engage a broad range of organizations and programs to support suicide prevention activities
  • Create community engagement activities to build community
  • Promote connectedness

Decrease/Eliminate Stigma/Discrimination/Fear associated with mental health, suicidal thoughts and addictions

  • What programs or initiatives do you know of now that work to decrease or end stigma?
    • Trainings – Youth/Mental Health First Aid – Adult & Youth, S.A.F.E., QPR, Response, Kognito
    • Schools-programs mental health Awareness
    • Safe Oregon
    • Peer support
    • Resources for parents
    • Provide safe spaces for youth
    • Swag sparks conversation - Popsockets, wrist bands, semicolon buttons, t-shirts, water bottles
    • Buddy Bench in high school lawn - remind students when they see someone sitting their alone.
    • Safe places on campus
    • Inform students that bathroom conversations may be recorded. Cuts down on illegal activities, sex, vaping, bullying
  • What other ideas do you have that could decrease or end stigma?
  • Which ideas do you think we could move to “low hanging fruit?”
    • Value of Lived Experience in presenters
    • Trainings – Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, ACEs, Youth Mental Health First Aid,Student Mental Health First Aid, Veterans, Older addults, QPR, Response, Kognito
    • Sources of Strength, Challenge Day
    • Schools/Student Councils
    • Stress First Aid (especially for military, first responders)
    • Peer support
    • School Students ask at least 2 peers “R U OK?”
    • 741741 on ID Badges
    • Lunch buddy program for all groups
    • Community Events
    • 15 minutes between classes - Finland - return socialization vs cell phone
    • Keep it light, good humor
    • Everyone gets a voice
    • Snacks
    • Handouts
    • Value placed on lived experience
    • Safe space
    • Different perspective
    • Hope
    • Law enforcement, schools, sports coaches, social services represented
    • No abbreviations/acronyms
    • Invite/notify members of the legislature and other elected officials

Increase suicide prevention protective factors and environments; enhance clinical and community suicide prevention

  • Encourage training to community members, community organizations, institutions and agencies and clinical service providers on the prevention of suicide and related behaviors.
  • Teach coping and problem solving skills
  • Promote efforts to reduce access to lethal means of suicide among individuals with identified suicide risk
  • Strengthen efforts to increase access to and delivery of effective programs and services for mental and substance use disorders.
  • Reduce provider shortages in underserved areas
  • Improve coverage of mental health conditions in health insurance policies
    • What programs or initiatives do you know of now that work to promote/provide education and training?
      • Value of Lived Experience in presenters
      • Avatar programs - Response, Kognito
      • Youth Mental Health First Aid, Student Mental Health First Aid
      • SafeOregon - did it work, was it really safe for whistle blowers?
      • Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training for youth, especially leadership
      • Mental Health Awareness at school assemblies
      • School District Suicide Prevention Protocol and crisis team
      • Campaign to start owning the word “suicide” – use it more often, like cancer, rape, domstic violence, etc. use to be
      • Sports’ teams
      • School theater
      • Making trainings more accessible (both $ and location) – include how to access services
      • Resource guides widely available (schools, libraries, etc.), maybe even retail like the R U OK? cards

      What other ideas do you have that could promote/provide education and training?
      Which ideas do you think are “low hanging fruit?”

      • Increase early identification and support for people thinking about suicide
      • Increase use of behavioral health services
      • Strengthen community suicide prevention and response systems
      • Reduce access to lethal means
      • Improve messaging in media about suicide.
      • Deeper dive into understanding more about people who have died
      • Determine what's missing

Suicide Treatment and Support

  • Promote and implement effective practices for assessing and treating those identified as being at risk for suicidal behaviors.
  • Encourage postvention care and support to individuals affected by suicide deaths and attempts to promote healing and implement community strategies to help prevent further suicides
  • Promote suicide prevention as a core component of health care services.
  • Promote suicide safer care through systems change

Build Information, Research, and Evaluation Systems for Suicide Prevention

  • Improve and expand the capacity to routinely collect, analyze, report, and use suicide related data to implement prevention efforts and inform policy decisions
  • Promote the timely dissemination of suicide prevention research findings.
  • Examine how suicide prevention efforts are implemented in different local communities to identify the types of delivery structures that may be most efficient and effective.
  • Evaluate the impact and effectiveness of a County Wide Strategy for Suicide Prevention in reducing suicide morbidity and mortality.  

Advocacy

  • Support advocacy efforts - AFSP, MHA, NAMI
  • Educate and reach policymakers
  • Identify and advocate for policies and investments
  • Partnerhip development. Identify and recruit champions – community leaders and system influencers
  • Strengthen economic supports – household financial security and housing stabilization policies.
  • Produce Toolkits of our successes that can be shared with other communities
 
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