Suicide Prevention

Home > Blog > Suicide Prevention

Tag: Suicide Prevention

By

Safer Homes Collaborative: Preventing firearm suicide through an unconventional collaboration of professionals

Speaker(s):

Ellison, Kathleen, MS, MA, NCC

Presentation:

Over 1,100 residents die by suicide each year in Missouri. Three out of five suicide deaths in the state involve the use of a firearm – well above national average for gun suicide. Access to firearms, particularly easy access to firearms during a period of crisis or emotional despair is a key risk factor for suicide. Yet, many individuals and organizations working in suicide prevention have been uncomfortable to address firearms, given the current social and political climate in the gun right and gun violence conversations. The Safer Homes Collaborative, a grass roots, firearm-suicide prevention initiative is embracing the challenge; bringing together gun owners, gun retailers, behavioral health professionals, medical providers, and suicide prevention advocates to the table to talk about how they all play a role in preventing. In this presentation, participants will learn about the Safer Homes Collaborative and how they’ve brought experts in firearms, suicide prevention, mental health and physical health together to work towards the shared goal of preventing firearm suicides.

Objectives:

  1. Define the Safer Homes Collaborative and mission to prevent firearm suicide
  2. Identify lethal means reductions strategies to prevent firearm suicide and the evidence behind why it works
  3. Describe the impact the Safer Homes Collaborative has in creating systems change through their collaborations across the state
  4. Ask the suicide question and ask about access to firearms.
By

Grady, Shari, PhD, LCPC, LPC, NCC, CISM

Dr. Grady has served in the helping profession for over 22 years, with her early work including 12 years conducting investigations on allegations of child abuse/neglect with the State of Missouri Children’s Division. In 2011 she went to grad school and obtained a master’s degree in counseling. Since then, she has worked in psychiatric emergency rooms, inpatient and outpatient units at psychiatric hospitals, grief support centers, and outpatient wellness clinics. Her most recent work includes owning and operating a private practice in the metro area of Kansas City. Dr. Grady specializes in grief and frequently provides therapy to those who are struggling with the loss of a loved one due to suicide, homicide, child death, and sudden death. She also serves as a consultant to local schools who have suffered the loss of students to suicide by providing presentations and tips on managing grief reactions. When she isn’t working with grief, Dr. Grady enjoys speaking at seminars designed to teach the helping professional how to recognize and cope with signs of stress and burnout. Much of her other work involves therapy with individuals on matters related to anxiety, depression, and relationship issues. Dr. Grady is currently licensed in Kansas and Missouri, with national board certification and a certificate in Critical Incident Stress Response. Dr. Grady’s dissertation and doctoral research included analysis of youth suicide statistics and how connection with educators could reduce the incidence of suicide in young people. She speaks at school districts throughout the country to educate them on the warning signs and precipitating circumstances in the lives of suicidal youth, while also providing educators with practical strategies for reducing youth suicides within their local districts.

Presentation(s): 

Youth Suicide: A Look at Before and After


 

 

By

Effectiveness of a Suicide Prevention Follow-up Program Linking Hospitals and Mental Health Care Providers in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri

Speaker(s):

Sale, Liz, PhD

Williams, Stacey, MSW, LCSW,

Millar, Kirsti, MS, LPC, 

Glowczwskie, Michelle, MSW, LCSW

Presentation:

This presentation will describe the implementation and evaluation of a continuity-of-care model in reducing suicide in adults. The program is implemented at two Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in the St. Louis area. Participants are primarily recruited through inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations and emergency department visits for a recent suicide attempt or suicidal ideation. The evaluation determined program effectiveness in reducing suicide attempts, hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and suicidal ideation at 3- and 6-months post intake.


Objectives:

  1. Describe a continuity-of-care model being used in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas that immediately links adults in hospital settings to mental health services.
  2. Learn about and describe the effectiveness of the program in reducing suicide attempts, hospital visits, ER visits, and suicidal ideation. The presentation will provide detail as to how the program was evaluated.
  3. Develop plans to implement similar programs in their community. The evaluation demonstrated that this model is effective in reducing suicidal behaviors. Audience members should informed enough about the program components to replicate a similar program in their community.

 

By

Sale, Liz, PhD

Dr. Elizabeth Sale is the Director of Evaluation and a research associate professor at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Dr. Sale has over 25 years of experience in the field of survey and evaluation research, with a particular focus on the evaluation of suicide prevention and substance use prevention programs. She has been the lead evaluator for several SAMHSA-funded suicide prevention initiatives, including programs for youth and adults in school and hospital settings. Currently, she is directing the evaluation of the Missouri Foundation for Health-funded Safer Homes Collaborative that focuses on suicide prevention education and training for the gun-owning community. She has published in several peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, the Community Mental Health Journal, the American Journal of Community Psychology, and the American Journal on Drug and Alcohol Abuse. She is currently a member of the Missouri Suicide Prevention Network and the St. Louis Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition.

Presentation(s): 

Effectiveness of a Suicide Prevention Follow-up Program Linking Hospitals and Mental Health Care Providers in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri


 

 

By

Williams, Stacey, MSW, LCSW

Stacey Williams is the State Suicide Prevention Coordinator for Missouri Department of Mental Health and serves as the suicide prevention lead for the department. She is the Project Director for the Youth Suicide Prevention Grant, the Zero Suicide in Health Systems grant, oversees the Emergency Suicide Response for COVID-19 Project as well as numerous other statewide crisis services activities. Stacey has a Masters in Social Work, with an emphasis in Policy, Planning and Administration from the University of Missouri and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. Stacey is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over twelve years’ experience working in mental health. She brings forth experience in state government, residential and community mental health settings as well as experience in both policy and clinical practice. Stacey is passionate about helping people through the process of bringing about systems change. In her free time, you can catch her baking, spending time outdoors or spending time with her teenage son Camden and German Shepherd Bella. 

Presentation(s): 

What you need to know about 988 in Missouri

Effectiveness of a Suicide Prevention Follow-up Program Linking Hospitals and Mental Health Care Providers in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri


 

 

By

Millar, Kirsti, MS, LPC

Kirsti Millar, MS, LPC is the Suicide Prevention Program Manager at ReDiscover where she manages the Show Me Zero Youth Suicide Grant which serves clients ages 10-24 and the Show Me Zero Suicide Grant working with adults aged 25 and up.  She has dynamic experience in crisis work and has utilized her creativity in program expansion and client engagement at ReDiscover for five years.  She has nine years in the field working with both adults and youth alike in therapeutic, case management and crisis like settings. She completed her Master’s in Counseling from Missouri State University with an emphasis in Play Therapy. Kirsti enjoys working with youth and has a passion for community engagement. Kirsti has extensive trainings across multiple modalities including: motivational interviewing, positive youth development, harm reduction, assessing and managing suicide risk, trauma informed care, vicarious trauma, EMDR and play therapy.  

 

Presentation(s): 

Effectiveness of a Suicide Prevention Follow-up Program Linking Hospitals and Mental Health Care Providers in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri


 

 

By

Glowczwskie, Michelle, MSW, LCSW

Michelle Glowczwskie is the Director of Telehealth and Home/Community Services for Behavioral Health Response (BHR). Michelle started as a crisis clinician thirteen and a half years ago.  She has worked as a crisis intervention counselor, a telehealth clinician, and clinical manager. Michelle’s skill at crisis intervention, suicide prevention and working with difficult cases and situations was recognized by her managers. Michelle was selected to lead BHR’s integrated mental health assessments, via a telehealth platform, with clients in Alaska. Michelle oversaw BHR’s early foray into telehealth services and helped expand this new services line from Alaska to multiple states, eventually bringing this much needed services to hospitals in Missouri. Following the successful growth of BHR’s telehealth services, Michelle was promoted to Director of BHR’s Telehealth and Home/Community Services Department. Previous to Michelle’s employment with BHR, she worked as a child abuse and neglect investigator with the state of MO for over 8 years.

Michelle holds a Master in Social Work from George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. Michelle holds social work licenses in Missouri and New Mexico. Michelle is married with one daughter.

 

 

By

Ellison, Kathleen, MS, MA, NCC

Katie Ellison, MA, MS, NCC is an Associate Director of Research Activities and program director for the Safer Homes Collaborative with the Missouri Institute of Mental Health at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her research focuses on lethal means reduction strategies, such as reducing easy access to firearms in the home to prevent firearm suicide. She has worked in community and school suicide prevention for over twenty years, earning recognition as a specialist and consultant in community, state, and school suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention best practices.

Presentation(s): 

 

By

Youth Suicide: A Look at Before and After

Speaker(s):

Shari Scott, M.A., LPC

Presentation:

Youth suicide frequently graces the covers of magazines, social media, and local news channels.  It’s a topic that increases in coverage as the statistics for suicide deaths among youth simultaneously climb upward.  Suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death for persons aged 10-24 and the rates increase yearly.  The victims left in its path are perplexed and dig through social media posts and the personal belongings of the deceased looking for answers. 

Published research and post-mortem analysis of completed suicides in youth point to highly correlative factors such as the presence of psychosocial, mental health, and substance abuse issues.  But what happens to the loved ones after someone dies a death by suicide?  What can one expect from the grief journey and how can professionals support the grieving child, teen, or adult? 

This presentation covers a post-mortem analysis of nearly 3000 youth suicide deaths to uncover pre-existing and contributing factors in the lives of those who died by suicide.  It also provides tips on how to support the bereaved child, teen, or adult on their grief journey.

Objectives:

  1. Examine nearly 3000 youth suicide deaths to determine underlying causes
  2. Explore statistics related to youth suicide deaths
  3. Define risk factors and red flags in suicidal youth
  4. Discuss ways to talk to youth about suicide
  5. Review the psychosocial, mental health, and substance abuse/use factors in suicidal youth

Slides and Handouts:

SCOTT_Pediatric Suicide and Loss MIMH 2021

By

Preventing Youth Suicide in Missouri: Effectiveness of a Hospital, School and Community Mental Health Center Collaboration in Kansas City

Speaker(s):

Kirsti Millar, M.S.

Michelle Alvarado, BSW

Bryan Gourley, BS

Rachel Morelan, BA, MPA

Heather White, BS

Presentation:

The Missouri Department of Mental Health was awarded a five-year SAMHSA youth suicide prevention grant in 2016. The Show Me Zero Youth Suicide Initiative aims to expand intervention services and prevent suicide in youth aged 10-24 in the greater Kansas City area. This initiative is being implemented by two local Community Mental Health Centers. The program diverts youth who are admitted to hospital emergency department and in-patient psychiatric departments to mental health services at these two centers. Program staff also work with Kansas City area schools to identify and refer youth at risk of suicide. This presentation will describe the key interventions, provide data on the ongoing program effectiveness and discussing ways for ongoing sustainability.

Objectives:

  1. Describe the Kansas City youth suicide prevention initiative and its effectiveness in reducing suicide and suicidal ideation
  2. Offer “Lessons Learned” from implementation of this youth suicide prevention initiative
  3. Discuss potential for replication in other locations and sustainability