Welcome!

Welcome to the July 2019 Office of Suicide Prevention newsletter! As our office continues to grow, we wanted to create a better communication channel to highlight new resources, community-level work, funding opportunities, and upcoming events. We hope you will find this a valuable resource to keep you plugged in to Suicide Prevention in Colorado!

In order to streamline communications, we now have a centralized email address CDPHE_suicideprevention@state.co.us 

Free Materials! 
The OSP has materials for Mental Health First Aid, Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA- English and Spanish), SafeTALK, and QPR available for organizations needing financial assistance to provide community trainings. Click the links to request material assistance while supplies last! (there is also funding to support Mental Health First Aid Trainings in Colorado - more information here).

Don’t forget to order materials now for the September National Suicide Awareness month!

Over the past year or two, you may have heard about an exciting project called the Colorado-National Collaborative. We’d like to do a better job of communicating what that group is working on, so we’ve added this section to our monthly newsletter. Stay tuned for more exciting updates! 

The Colorado-National Collaborative (CNC) is continuing work with national, state and local leaders on building a comprehensive suicide prevention framework. Efforts are underway to finalize the structure and priorities of the CNC strategic plan. Below is a sneak peek of the “pillars” that have been identified through local, state, and national collaboration to be our best bet evidenced-based policies, programs and practices which will help Colorado reach the goal of reducing suicide by 20% by 2024. 

1. Connectedness
Strategies include policies and programs that promote behavioral health social and emotional learning starting in elementary schools. 

2. Economic Stability 
These include policies and practices include food security, affordable housing, family friendly employment practices, and access to affordable, quality child care. 

3. Education and Awareness
These strategies rely on broad dissemination of suicide prevention education to the general public. 

4. Access to Suicide Safer Care 
Strategies include the seven Zero Suicide elements: 1) Lead; 2) Train; 3) Identify; 4) Engage; 5) Treat; 6) Transition; and, 7) Improve. Settings specific to this pillar include primary care, mental health centers, behavioral health and substance disorder treatment agencies, hospitals, and emergency departments. 

5. Lethal Means Safety 
Strategies include reinforcing safe storage practices through public messaging, the Colorado Gun Shop Project, and provider training. 

6. Postvention 
As we all know, good postvention is prevention. Key strategies will ensure that communities are mobilized to support survivors of suicide loss, that positive messaging guided by lived experience is highlighted, and that safe messaging resources are available to a variety of organizations.

Prevention in Practice: Building Life Skills, Connectedness, and Resilience in Youth The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) is pleased to announce the release of Prevention in Practice: Building Life Skills, Connectedness, and Resilience in Youth. This success story describes how Native Americans for Community Action, Inc. (NACA) partnered with northern Arizona schools to implement Coping and Support Training (CAST) for Native youth. This evidence-based program is helping to enhance life skills and resilience and promote social connectedness and support among students--critical parts of a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention.


SAMHSA has released Behavioral Health Barometer: United States, Volume 5. This Barometer provides easy-to-read summaries and statistical graphs demonstrating key areas related to U.S. mental health, substance abuse, thoughts of suicide and breakdowns of information by key demographics. This report draws data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services. 

The Public’s Role in Developing Effective and Safe Messaging for Suicide Prevention Month/Week
How we publicly communicate and talk about suicide can have a negative or positive impact. Research has found that certain types of public messaging about suicide can increase risk among vulnerable individuals. On the other hand, communications can also be a powerful tool to promote resiliency, encourage help-seeking, and highlight successful prevention efforts. 

The Action Alliance's Framework for Successful Messaging, highlighted during the webinar Developing and Delivering Effective Suicide Prevention Messaging: We All Play A Role, outlines the key components to consider when messaging to the public about suicide, including: strategy, safety, conveying a positive narrative, and following applicable guidelines. 

Engaging People with Lived Experience: A Toolkit for Organizations
SPRC is pleased to announce the release of Engaging People with Lived Experience: A Toolkit for Organizations. This online toolkit is designed to assist organizations and agencies that lead suicide prevention programs with recruiting and engaging individuals who have lived experience. It provides information on how to create an inclusive organizational environment and improve suicide prevention strategies by involving individuals who have life experience with suicide in planning, strategy implementation, practice reviews, policy development, and leadership.

As part of EO 13861, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Veterans Affairs are leading the development of a National Research Strategy to improve the coordination, monitoring, benchmarking, and execution of public- and private-sector research related to the factors that contribute to veteran suicide. We have released a Request for Information (RFI) to help guide the National Research Strategy. 

If you have questions or other suggestions, please feel free to connect via email at rfiresearchresponse@va.gov.

2019 CFPS Legislative Report 
We are excited to announce the release of the Child Fatality Prevention System 2019 Annual Legislative Report! A huge thank you to all of our local child fatality prevention review team coordinators and team members, State Review Team members and content experts, and all of our partners across the state of Colorado. The report includes an overview of the system, data on violence and injury-related deaths among youth ages 0-17 in Colorado, and nine prioritized child fatality prevention recommendations as well as updates on past system prevention recommendations. The report was submitted to the Colorado General Assembly the afternoon of June 28.