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Zero Suicide Initiative

learn the signs & save lives

WORKING TOWARDS ZERO SUICIDE IN HEALTH AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS

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 ZS 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.

WOULD YOU RECOGNIZE SUICIDE RISK IF YOU SAW IT?

the work we've done

testimonials

Zero Suicide Collaborative Clinical Leaders and Organizational Partners

  • Rachel Edwards, RN, Behavioral Health Nurse Manager, UW Health
  • Meghan Henderson, LCSW, MSW Clinical Practice Leader for Behavioral Health, UnityPoint Health-Meriter 
  • Christina Fearn, RN, Nurse Manager, Behavioral Health, SSM Health St. Mary’s
  • Hannah Flanagan, Director of Crisis Services, and Pete Zellar, Crisis Stabilization, Journey Mental Health Center
  • Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin
  • Alex Smith, Access Community Health Centers

RESOURCES AND LINKS

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 the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

RESOURCES

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RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE

Treatment Key

Safe communities has complied a list of abbreviation definitions for finding the right treatment for you.

MAT: Medication for Addiction Treatment.
OP: Outpatient Treatment – person lives at home or in the community, attends. individual and group therapy, these can include or not include MAT.
IOP: Intensive Outpatient Treatment – person lives at home or in the community, attends individual and extended groups, 9-12 hours a week.
Residential: person lives at the facility for a period of at least 14 days, some last as many as 45 days.
PHP: Partial Hospitalization Program is a structured mental health treatment program that runs for several hours each day, three to five days per week.
DBT: Dialectical behavior therapy is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that integrates mindfulness techniques.