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Office of Suicide Prevention
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Edition 36 | May 2021
This is a monthly newsletter from CDPHE regarding the Office of Suicide Prevention.
OFFICE OF SUICIDE PREVENTION

Welcome!
Welcome to the May 2021 Office of Suicide Prevention newsletter! May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Rockstar Partner Spotlight!

West Slope Youth Vote (WSYV)

Several years ago, a few students stood up among a sea of adults during a regularly scheduled school board meeting in School District 51, and they took the mic. The school board was discussing concern regarding the high rates of youth suicide in the valley and across the West Slope, and were asking what could be done, and how the school district could contribute. When these students took the mic, they said something profound: “Include students in these conversations, lean on us to help us support our peers, and ask us what we do to cope and what helps keep us alive.” Thanks to these students, and WSYV students who came after them, suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention remained on the radar for decision makers in the General Assembly. 

Over the years the Western Colorado Alliance youth interns have worked to further social determinants of health issues that are important to them and their peers. During 2019 they worked with legislators to advance the rights of foster siblings, child abuse response and evaluation, youth mental health and suicide prevention, child and youth behavioral care, K5 SEL health. During 2020 they pushed for protection of race trait hair styles in Colorado schools and workplaces, inclusion of American minorities in teaching civil government, and excused absences in public schools for behavioral health.

Do you have a Rockstar Partner in your community that you would like to see featured in our next newsletter? Nominate them here by completing our Rockstar Partner Nomination Form.

Office of Suicide Prevention Updates

New Commission Recommendations 
At the April 2021 Suicide Prevention Commission meeting, Commissioners voted to approve three sets of recommendations: (1) to create supportive, inclusive, and safe communities, especially for Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color; (2) to support Coloradans experiencing suicidal despair to reduce harm and to support alternatives to forced treatment; (3) and to strengthen equitable economic stability and supports, including food security, affordable housing, livable wage and other family-friendly workplace policies, access to representative care, and Broadband Internet access. All recommendations can be found here. 

2020 Data
The Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention’s interactive data visualization dashboard has been updated to include counts, crude rates and age-adjusted rates with 2020 data. Guidance for using the data dashboard can be found here. 

Zero Suicide Academy 
The Office is hosting two full Academy sessions for health care system teams this summer. Check out the info sheet and application page for more information. 

Zero Suicide Colorado Learning Collaborative
Every month we hold an interactive online Learning Collaborative for health system leaders working in suicide prevention. Experts in health care-based suicide prevention, advocates who speak on their lived experience, and a diverse array of other guest speakers join health system leaders from across Colorado in discussing state of the art approaches to improving care and saving lives. To be contacted for the next collaborative, please email Sarah.Brummett@state.co.us.

Trainings

Intentional Peer Support Training

The OSP is partnering with IPS to provide a Train-the-Trainer session to peer support specialists who have been trained in the Core or Advanced modules in Colorado in Fall 2021. If you’re interested in directly receiving more information, please fill out this interest list.

LivingWorks Start Training
The OSP is pleased to provide our partners across Colorado FREE access to the LivingWorks Start suicide prevention gatekeeper training. LivingWorks Start is a one-hour, online, interactive training program that gives you the skills and knowledge to keep family, friends, co-workers, and others safe from suicide. For more information, click here.

We still have PLENTY of licenses available. To access the training, click here and enter access code: OSP Gen. Please note that licenses are available for use on a first come, first served basis. Please do not share the URL and access code outside of Colorado. *LivingWorks Start works best with Google Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge browsers. It is not Internet Explorer compatible. If you have any questions or issues accessing the training, please contact Dymond Ruybal at Dymond.Ruybal@state.co.us.

Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS)
In light of COVID-19, the OSP has moved all CAMS trainings to a virtual platform. We have trainings available June 30 and July 20, 2021. If you are a behavioral health provider interested in participating, sign up to receive more information here

Are you CAMS trained? Use your skills to help reduce suicide in Colorado! CAMS trained providers now have the option of registering on the CAMS Clinician Locator, which will route new clients to your practice, particularly those looking for competent clinicians, trained in evidence-based suicide-specific treatments. Please consider signing up to help your community find you.

RESOURCES - Hot off the Press!

Colorado

The Colorado Department of Human Services has posted several resources for Mental Health Awareness Month on their website, here

You're Invited! 9-8-8 Listening Sessions in June
Colorado's 9-8-8 Implementation Planning Committee will host two virtual listening sessions in June. The Committee is responsible for submitting a report to the Office of Behavioral Health in September advising on key capacity, funding, and communication issues as it prepares for 9-8-8's launch. Last year, the FCC adopted rules to establish 9-8-8 as the new, nationwide, 3-digit phone number for Americans in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors by July 16, 2022. Please register using the links below to join one of the upcoming listening sessions and weigh in! Questions to: christopherx.miller@state.co.us


Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners is hiring several leadership positions, as well as peers and crisis workers. All positions with robust descriptions and application instructions can be found here.

The Community Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) Program is hiring a full-time Bilingual CSAP Data Specialist. This is a new bilingual-required position that will be working to do qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and communication with a focus on substance use root causes, impacts, and outcomes for the Latinx and LGBTQ+ communities. We are looking for someone with six years of relevant education and/or experience. The position closes on June 8th. Please encourage anyone applying to put as much detail in their governmentjobs.com application as possible since the hiring team will not see their resume and cover letter during the initial screening process.

 

Asian American , Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander

National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association: General resource page and Combating Racism resource page

Asian American/Pacific Islander Communities And Mental Health: By Mental Health America

Each Mind Matters: Mental Health Support Guide for Chinese-American Communities

Asian American Psychological Association: A variety of factsheets including Asian American Bullying and Asian American Suicide

Asian Pride Project


Youth & Young Adults

The Trevor Project just released the results of our third annual National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health. I've attached a social media toolkit with key findings. The full report can be found here.

Representing the experiences of nearly 35,000 LGBTQ youth (ages 13-24) across the United States, with 45% being LGBTQ youth of color and 38% being transgender or nonbinary, our 2021 National Survey features a wealth of brand new data around suicide risk factors, the impacts of COVID-19, mental health care disparities, discrimination, food insecurity, and conversion therapy — in addition to the benefits of LGBTQ-affirming spaces and practices.


Colorado Youth

To read more about Colorado’s comprehensive recommendations to support LGBTQ+ children, youth, and young adults (ages 0-24) from the Youth-specific Initiatives Work Group of the Suicide Prevention Commission, click here

CULTURE FORWARD: A Strengths and Culture Based Tool to Protect Native Youth from Suicide is a new 54-page report with tribally driven, evidence- and practice-based solutions to prevent Native youth suicide. 

 

Rural Residents & Agriculture 

The Colorado Agricultural Addiction & Mental Health Program is now an available resource for the farming and ranching community in Colorado. CAAMHP provides members of our agricultural and rural communities with six free sessions to an ag friendly, licensed behavioral health professional. It’s anonymous and in many cases, can be accessed remotely.

Rural Mental Health Toolkit: Colorado Crisis Services staff are trained to respond to challenges unique to farming and ranching families. The Colorado Department of Agriculture has partnered with Colorado Crisis Services to create custom messaging for rural communities.

Depression, Alcohol and Farm Stress: Addressing Co-Occurring Disorders in Rural America

The Farm Crisis Center: Resources from the National Farmers Union

 

General Resources

Watch the on-demand recording of Hidden Lessons from Black Suicide Science with Special Guest Dr. Rheeda Walker, hosted by CAMS.

Mental Health America (MHA) has been sharing Tools 2 Thrive, practical tools that everyone can use to improve their mental health and increase their resiliency regardless of their personal situation. View the toolkit here

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) at Work created this new toolkit for employers’ use this Mental Health Awareness Month and beyond.

UPCOMING EVENTS!

AAS Healing After Suicide Loss Conference 2021Saturday, June 12,2021, 11:00 am MT

Partners for Children’s Mental Health (PCMH)

  • Suicide prevention training opportunity for clinics: PCMH is offering training and consultation to help Colorado clinics implement a youth suicide prevention care pathway that guides pediatric PCPs in delivering suicide safer care. Learn more about the opportunity.
  • Free QPR trainings: PCMH is hosting free Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) trainings in June for anyone 18+ interested in learning about suicide warning signs, prevention strategies, and how to support youth having thoughts of suicide. Training dates/times (MT):
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To improve the health, well-being and equity of all Coloradans through health promotion, prevention and access to health care.
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