Zero Suicide Initiative
Safe Communities coordinates a Zero Suicide partnership that includes all area health care systems as well as community organizations with a role to play in suicide prevention.
The initiative is modeled after Henry Ford Health Care System’s program, which demonstrated an 80% reduction in suicide among health care plan members.
Zero Suicide is a key concept of the 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, a priority of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance), a project of Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), and supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Safe Communities is not a counseling or crisis center and does not provide direct services. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
The Zero Suicide Approach
OUR CORE CONCEPTS
- Suicide deaths for people under care are preventable.
- Treatment of depression alone will not effectively prevent suicidality.
- The bold goal of zero suicides among persons receiving care is one that health systems should embrace.
- The goal requires a system-wide approach involving the broader community.
- The approach is based on the realization that suicidal individuals often fall through multiple cracks in fragmented healthcare systems.
- Key areas of focus are means reduction, including eliminating suicide locations within communities.
How We're Different
- A Collaborative Safety Plan (formulated by the patient and provider) is completed with every patient experiencing suicidality.
- This Safety Plan discussion must include “means reduction” (how to eliminate access to guns and other methods of suicide).
- A “warm hand-off” is conducted, which means a follow-up appointment with an outpatient provider is made while the patient is still in the hospital or clinic.
- A follow-up phone call is made within 72 hours to patients discharged from the Emergency Room, an inpatient unit or a clinic visit with a Collaborative Safety Plan.
Zero Suicide Initiative Quick Links
Suicide Prevention work in motion.
The WorkWe've Done
Would you recognize suicide risk if you saw it?
A Community Wide Zero Suicide Team
Behavioral health leaders from UW Health, SSM Health, UnityPoint Health, Journey Mental Health, Group Health Cooperative, Stoughton Hospital and the William S. Middleton VA Hospital meet every 6 weeks – 2 months to collaborate on implementation of Zero Suicide. In addition, each system launched an internal work team to advance Zero Suicide within their organizations.
Exploring Overlap between Suicide and the Drug Overdose Epidemic
September 14, 2017 Safe Communities hosted a Zero Suicide Conference featuring a panel discussion to explore the overlap between addiction and suicide. Recent data suggests that people with substance use disorders are about six times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. One panel member shared her experience with childhood trauma, heroin addiction, suicide attempts and how she came to find recovery.
Testimonials
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