The guide is a hyperlinked listing of essential local services for suicide prevention, psychotherapy, addiction recovery, sexual assault and domestic violence, and support groups. Click on the links for more detailed information about available services and programs.
The Sophie Fund is sponsoring free registration—and free continuing education credits (CEUs)—for healthcare professionals in Tompkins County to attend a two-day online training in suicide prevention featuring some of the nation’s leading experts.
Free registration and free continuing education credits for physicians, primary care clinicians, health and mental health clinicians, and clinical social workers serving Tompkins County is supported by a grant from The Sophie Fund.
To request a registration code for free registration, healthcare professionals can email The Sophie Fund at thesophiefund2016@gmail.com providing their 1) name, 2) email address, 3) degree level, and 4) place of employment (or name and address of practice, if self-employed).
Scott MacLeod, co-founder of The Sophie Fund, said his organization’s sponsorship of the Wellness Institute program for the fourth year in a row is intended to advance the Zero Suicide Model with healthcare providers. Thus far, The Sophie Fund has provided the free training for 180 clinicians in Tompkins County, including the counseling center staffs of Cornell University and Ithaca College.
Zero Suicide is an emerging standard designed to save lives by closing gaps in the suicide care offered by healthcare providers. The model provides a practical framework for system-wide quality improvement in areas including training staff in current best practices, identifying at-risk individuals through comprehensive screening and assessment, engaging at-risk patients with effective care management, evidence-based treatments, and safe care transition.
Suicide Safer Care in Clinical Practice: Incorporating Current Best Practices
Wednesday, March 19, 1-5 p.m.
Understanding Suicide to Prevent Suicide: A Clinical Framework
E. David Klonsky, PhD, Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD, Senior Vice President of Research, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
New-Generation Treatments (CRP, BCBT, etc.)
Craig Bryan, PsyD, ABPP, Trott Gebhardt Philips Endowed Professor and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ohio State University College of Medicine
Assessment, Safety Planning, and Treatment Pathways
Gillian Murphy, PhD, New York-based psychotherapist; former Assistant Deputy Director for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now 988)
Integrating Firearm Safety Discussions in Clinical Practice
Christopher Knoepke, PhD, MSW, LCSW, Research Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Clients with Suicide Bereavement
Noam M. Schneck, PhD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry), Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry and the New York State Psychiatric Institute
Thursday, March 20, 1-5 p.m.
The Human Element: Engaging Suicidal Clients
Jonathan Singer, PhD, LCSW, Professor, Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work
Creating Safe Spaces for Suicidality Disclosure
Lindsay Sheehan, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of the Center on Health Equity, Education, and Research, Illinois Institute of Technology
Post-Crisis Reintegration
Marisa Marraccini, PhD, Tarbet Faculty Scholar in Education and an Associate Professor of School Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Education
Adapting Suicide Prevention for Telehealth
Lauren Khazem, PhD, Research Assistant Professor and clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Addressing Substance Use in Suicide Prevention
Christina M. Sellers, PhD, LCSW, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Innovation in Behavioral Health Education and Research, School of Social Work, Simmons University
Sleep-Focused Approaches to Youth Suicide Prevention
Sally Weinstein, PhD, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Associate Director of the Center on Depression and Resilience, University of Illinois College of Medicine
Ask the Experts: What Works in Suicide Care (Q&A Session)
David Jobes, PhD, ABPP, Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of Clinical Training, Catholic University of America; Creator and Developer, Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS)
David A. Brent, MD, academic chief of child and adolescent psychiatry, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital
Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD, Senior Vice President of Research, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Learning Objectives:
Describe a model for understanding suicide and list factors that contribute to increased suicide risk.
Discuss how clinicians can engage in suicide prevention in their clinical practice.
Describe the suicidal mode and identify the mechanisms targeted by newly developed treatments in suicide prevention.
Identify core principles that can guide the suicide assessment process and brief interventions to implement to maintain client safety.
Articulate the role of firearms in suicide and how to integrate firearm safety conversations into suicide prevention efforts.
Explain the unique emotions that typify suicide bereavement and an approach to facilitate emotional acceptance.
Identify suicide-focused care models that fit a clinician’s clinical approach best and ways they can utilize their emotional reactions while working with suicidal individuals.
Describe client perspectives on disclosure of suicidality and strategies to increase comfort in disclosure.
Explain considerations for supporting students returning to school following suicide-related crises and how best practices for student reintegration may be generalized for community reintegration of individuals in all life stages.
Identify telehealth adaptations of suicide prevention strategies and how they may be implemented. (Describe imminent suicide risk assessment and responses.)
Explain the relationship between substance use and suicide and how substance use is a risk factor for suicide.
Describe developmental changes in sleep in adolescence, how to assess sleep quality in youth, and intervention strategies to improve sleep in adolescents that may be relevant for suicide prevention.
Demonstrate how to ask a client if they are experiencing suicidal thoughts, incorporate one new practice for suicide prevention, and develop a practice plan to put in effect when a person states they have been thinking about suicide.
Our kids are telling us: “We are struggling with mental health.” From the Covid-19 disruptions, academic pressures, and addictive social media to navigating adolescence in a time of political and economic uncertainty, it is a tough time for many to be young in America.
DOWNLOAD: Mental Health Support & Suicide Prevention for Schools in Tompkins County
National and local surveys of school students reflect the seriousness of the crisis. In a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40 percent of high schoolers said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Twenty-nine percent reported poor mental health, and 20 percent said they had considered taking their own lives.
A survey of high school and middle school students in Tompkins County came up with similar patterns. Forty-seven percent said they felt anxious or worried on most days, 35 percent felt sad or depressed on most days, and 34 percent said that “sometimes I think life is not worth it.”
Such data prompt a call to action, to intensify our efforts to safeguard the mental well-being of children growing up in our precarious digital age.
In that spirit, the new resources guide was created by the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Greater Central New York, National Alliance on Mental Illness Finger Lakes, Mental Health Association in Tompkins County, and The Sophie Fund.
“Mental health and well-being start with our youth. At a young age, understanding warning signs and developing coping skills can provide a foundation for supportive strategies to be carried into adulthood. Talking about suicide is how we start supporting our young people,” said Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service.
“Gaining an educated understanding of how to have conversations around crisis and suicide can save lives. Dedicating a matter of hours could save a youth’s life. We need to invest the time. We offer a variety of suicide prevention trainings and workshops at no cost to those who want to learn more.”
After providing a brief “Mental Health and Suicide 101” introduction, the resources guide details the education and training that the local organizations are ready to present to Tompkins school administrators, teachers, students, and parents.
If you have a comment, concern, or suggestion about mental health in Tompkins schools, please feel free to email it to The Sophie Fund: thesophiefund2016@gmail.com.
The resources guide compiles handbooks and toolkits to assist Tompkins schools in developing mental health promotion and bullying prevention programming as well as suicide prevention strategies in their school communities. The guide points to recommendations for youth use of social media issued by the U.S. Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association.
The organizations launched the resources guide in last September during Suicide Prevention Month and immediately distributed copies to the superintendents of the seven school districts in Tompkins County.
At the same time, the organizations requested an opportunity to meet directly with the superintendents and their leadership teams to provide a presentation on the support services available and respond to any concerns or questions they may have.
Tompkins school districts include Ithaca City School District; Lansing Central School District; Trumansburg Center School District; Newfield Central School District; Groton Central School District; Dryden Central School District; and TST BOCES. (As of late January 2025, three school districts had responded positively to the request.)
If you or someone you know feels the need to speak with a mental health professional, you can call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.
Mental health leaders in Tompkins County provided information about community services during The Sophie Fund’s 9th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 19.
Ithaca Free Clinic’s Norbert McCloskey briefs Cornell students about his agency’s work
Speaking at the Awards Ceremony, Norbert McCloskey, executive director of the Ithaca Free Clinic, which provides healthcare to individuals regardless of ability to pay, expressed gratitude for the support the agency receives from the community.
“I have had the honor for number of years now to work with an organization that does all that it can to make sure that people can access the healthcare that they need. We’re able to do that because all of our services are provided by community volunteers—everyone from MDs all the way down to the kind lady who comes in once a week and waters our plants,” McCloskey said.
Ithaca Free Clinic
McCloskey noted the connection between healthcare and mental health.
“Nothing really creates anxiety in the life of an individual than being ill and not being able to see a doctor, not being able to get the care that they need. Whether that care is primary family practice care, or acupuncture, or herbalism, or chiropractic, or occupational therapy, or seeing an optometrist to get the eyewear that they need in order to live a full and productive life.
“You probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that a significant number of people who come to our doors do suffer from a variety of mental health conditions. We are able to help them recognize that, and then steer them toward this vast array of organizations that we have in our community to get help that they need to live full, productive, happy, and joyful lives.”
Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County, said that her agency has been able to expand its services beyond its role as a local call center for the national 988 Suicide Prevention and Crisis Lifeline.
Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County
She told the Awards Ceremony audience that SPCS now handles calls from 16 other New York State counties in addition to Tompkins County. She said her agency also launched a 24-hour “warm line” for people who are not in crisis yet need a person to talk to, as well as a 24-hour LGBTQ peer support line.
“It is so incredibly necessary. We need to have everyone talking about mental health all the time,” she said.
Bloss pointed people to SPCS’s newly redesigned website, “an incredible resource for mental health.”
“We really just want to get the word out and get people talking about mental health and suicide. Make it not a scary topic. We need to look at it like we look at our physical health,” she said.
Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force
Mental Health Association in Tompkins County
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention — Greater Central New York
National Alliance on Mental Illness — Finger Lakes
America is experiencing a youth mental health and suicide crisis, as kids grow up in a world that is increasingly stressful and scary for them, according to Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County.
Tiffany Bloss speaks at youth mental health town hall
Bloss said that a quarter of the young people who die in the United States today take their own lives. She said the causes of suicide are complex, but pointed to stress factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic, academic pressures, addictive social media, poor family relationships, and financial anxiety.
“They are trying to navigate so many things in their world, and it is a scary place to be right now. And, with social media, there is no escape,” she said.
Bloss was a featured speaker at “Youth Mental Health & Wellness,” a community town hall hosted by the Tompkins County Suicide Prevention Coalition at the Tompkins County Public Library on October 5.
Bloss said that suicide is preventable, and emphasized the importance of normalizing discussions about mental health and being aware of warning signs that could be indicators of suicidal thoughts.
“We talk about our physical health all the time. We don’t ask about mental health. If your gut tells you that something is kind of going on for your youth, you’ve really got to ask them questions about suicide and see what we can do and open up that conversation,” she said.
Some of the warning signs Bloss described were not going out with friends anymore, failed relationships, slipping grades, changes in sleep patterns, excessive agitation or anger, and talking about dying by suicide.
She said that her agency and others in Tompkins County offer support services to address mental health challenges and emotional crises. She said that when people have serious concerns about themselves or someone else, it is wise to call 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Melanie Little, director of Education and Youth Services at the Mental Health Association of Tompkins County, spoke about the importance of recognizing risk factors can make youth more vulnerable to developing a mental health disorder.
Melanie Little provides “Mental Health 101”
Among the risk factors are trauma, substance abuse, social marginalization, lack of supportive relationships, a physical illness or disability, and bullying, she said. She said mental disorders are increasingly common in youth, with 1 in 3 teens experiencing anxiety, 1 in 5 major depression, and 1 in 5 eating disorders.
Little emphasized the need to avoid perpetuating stigma around mental health. She listed some common examples of stigmatizing language that can be harmful to young people struggling with a disorder.
“Everyone has anxiety. Some people are just stronger than you are.”
“Therapy and medications are just scams. You don’t need them.”
“What do you mean you can’t get out of bed? It’s not like your legs aren’t working.”
“Kids can’t have mental illness. What have they got to worry about in life?”
“All women are a bit bipolar.”
Pat Breux, former director of School and Youth Initiatives at the Suicide Prevention Center of New York, discussed the vital role that schools play in preventing youth suicide.
“We take an approach that we call ‘confident, connected, caring school communities.’ What that means is everyone has a role to play. Everyone is challenged to have the competencies to notice, and know where, when, and how to access help for somebody when somebody’s in need,” she said.
Breux said schools can help educate parents about mental health starting when the children enter kindergarten. “We need to start having those conversations and preparing parents for the idea that mental health crises are pretty common by the time kids get into middle school or high school. And you need to be able to recognize that early and know how to get help for your kid,” she said.
In New York State last year, Breux said, more 5,000 children went to the emergency department for self-injurious behavior.
“About 2,000 of those kids ended up hospitalized. Where did the other 3,000 end up the next morning? Back in school. Were they fixed? No. There are kids who are going to struggle with suicidality who need access to education. They need to be able to move through life with that. How do we create the environment that those kids can be okay and make sure that we’re having some kind of eyes on them and they have access to the supports that they need at the level that they need?”
Breux distributed copies of “A Guide for Suicide Prevention for New York Schools,” a booklet prepared by the Suicide Prevention Center of New York that provides information for training school staff and educating parents as well as targeted and individualized interventions against suicide risk.
Town Hall organized by the Tompkins County Suicide Prevention Coalition
Other speakers at the town hall included Shawn Goodman, a psychologist in the Ithaca Central School District; Nicole Roulstin, Contact Center Manager for 211 Tompkins/Cortland; a student at Tompkins Cortland Community College; and Randy Brown, a member of the Tompkins County Legislature.
Goodman said several things inspired him to write the self-help manual. He said that he noticed that some people his age were still struggling with their childhood issues. And while he found books to help adults heal their issues, he couldn’t find any books for kids to help them before they became adults themselves.
“And I had kids coming in essentially asking for that, saying ‘This is going on with my dad. This is going on with my mom. I want my relationship to be better. How do I do that?’”
Goodman said his favorite strategy for living in a difficult family is to learn how to manage the situation, not the relationship.
“Many kids are holding the entire relationship and feeling responsibility for it. I tell kids it’s not your job to change your parents’ behavior. And even if it were your job, it’s mission impossible. So instead, just try and manage each situation. Throughout the book, if kids stick with it, I’m really hoping that they’re going to be building confidence in navigating difficult situations and improve their outcomes, one moment at a time,” he said.
The Tompkins Cortland Community College student shared a personal story of a suicidal crisis that began before she turned 11. She said that while she grew up in a supportive family, an attentive youth pastor and later a therapist played crucial roles in guiding her on a path to healing. “Sometimes talking to parents can be really challenging especially for a middle schooler,” she said.
The student noted that that while she is feeling fantastic and is enjoying college today, speaking about her ordeal is still difficult. She said she agreed to speak about it publicly for the first time at the town hall because “I thought it was a good idea to bring awareness.”
In her presentation, Roulstin provided an overview of how the 2-1-1 hotline can help Tompkins residents access a multitude of community services for support, including food, housing, transportation, health and mental health, utilities, legal aid, veteran needs, job listings, and tax assistance. She said the hotline uses a database with over 1,600 local, state, and federal resources.
Tompkins County Legislator Randy Brown: “The issue of our time”
Brown provided the town hall’s welcome remarks, saying “I think mental health and wellness is the issue of our time, more important than any other issue that I can think of. When I ran for the legislature a few years ago, it was the number one issue for me and still is. I think that there’s more that we can do as a county.”
The Tompkins County Suicide Prevention Coalition is comprised of health agencies, community organizations, and individual members who share a determination to prevent suicide deaths in our community. It is a collective of volunteers that strives for diverse and inclusive representation and encourages collaboration for achieving goals.
If you or someone you know feels the need to speak with a mental health professional, you can call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.
You must be logged in to post a comment.