Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain lived the American Dream—professional success, financial security, happy families. No wonder the nation was shocked to learn of their deaths by suicide last week. Were there warning signs? Spade’s husband revealed that the iconic fashion designer was receiving treatment for depression and anxiety. Bourdain’s mother said the celebrity chef and journalist was in a “dark mood” shortly before his death.
To share current efforts to fight suicide in our community, the Tompkins County Suicide Prevention Coalition invites the general public to a presentation on the Zero Suicide Model. The presentation, by Olivia B. Retallack of the New York State Suicide Prevention Office, will take place from 2-3:30 p.m. Monday June 18 in the Borg Warner Room of the Tompkins County Public Library.
The Coalition has taken up the proposed adoption of the Zero Suicide Model as a priority. Zero Suicide is a set of strategies and tools for suicide prevention in health and behavioral health care systems. Zero Suicide argues that suicides can be prevented by closing cracks in healthcare systems—that “suicide deaths for individuals under care within health and behavioral health systems are preventable.”
Zero Suicide considers suicide prevention a core responsibility of healthcare. Specifically, this entails a systematic clinical approach in healthcare systems—training staff, screening for suicide ideation, utilizing evidence-based interventions, mandating continuous quality improvement, treating suicidality as a presenting problem—and not simply relying on the heroic efforts of crisis staff and individual clinicians.
As the Suicide Prevention Resource Center puts it: “The programmatic approach of Zero Suicide is based on the realization that suicidal individuals often fall through multiple cracks in a fragmented and sometimes distracted health care system, and on the premise that a systematic approach to quality improvement is necessary.”
Presentation on the Zero Suicide Model
Olivia B. Retallack
New York State Suicide Prevention Office
June 18, 2018 2–3:30 p.m.
Borg Warner Room
Tompkins County Public Library
To RSVP, click on the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZeroSuicidePresentation
[If you or someone you know feels the need to speak with a mental health professional, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.]
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