State mental health officials will travel to Washington, D.C., in late June to learn about a new suicide prevention model.
Ann Jenkins, a crisis services program officer with Family & Children’s Services, and two members of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services will represent Oklahoma at the Zero Suicide Academy.
Representatives from 16 states will participate in the event, June 26-27.
“It’s very exciting. We don’t get this much cooperation on preventing anything else, but with suicide, it’s preventing a death,” Jenkins said.
The academy is part of the federal government’s push to lower suicide rates across the country.
People are also reading…
The idea behind the Zero Suicide model is that agencies statewide work in a cooperative manner while treating suicide as a disease and not just a symptom of depression or anxiety.
“Through this model, clinicians are trained to look at the drivers of suicide and work to alleviate those drivers,” Jenkins said.
So if someone is going through a breakup, agencies can provide skills to deal with that, or if they are dealing with unemployment, agencies can work to help them find food, housing and other assistance.
“Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary situation,” Jenkins said. “It’s our job to help them see it (their problem) is temporary.”
Another part of the model is getting agencies in communities throughout the state on the same page with treatment and screening, Jenkins said.
“We have to collaborate with all the mental health associations, hospitals and law enforcement agencies so that everyone in the state is screened. It’s a community approach,” she said. “This model lays out a plan for us as a community to approach this.”
Jenkins said the model has been incorporated by agencies in two states, and they have seen their suicide rates drop 75 percent.
