CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

‘What can I do?’

The Daily Record - 6/20/2020

Mental health providers in Wayne and Holmes counties want to give the community the confidence to ask the question that could prevent a death by suicide.

“When we each ask, ‘What can I do?’, we can each prevent suicide, by being attentive to people around us to refer a friend, family member, or co-worker for assessment or treatment,” said Judy Wortham Wood, executive director of the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Wayne and Holmes Counties.

The board and the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Wayne/?Holmes Counties are putting a greater focus on preventing suicide during the coronavirus pandemic, the trauma from which can increase mental health and addiction issues.

Wood said it’s more important than ever for community members and organizations to become attentive to the needs of people around them and offer support such as early intervention by mental health providers.

The coalition met on Thursday. James Foley, director of community education and prevention at The Counseling Center of Wayne and Holmes Counties, cautioned a surge in suicides might come as more parents return to work and children worry.

In Ohio, suicide deaths dropped below 100 in April and May, down from 140 in March. Wayne County has seen six deaths by suicide since January, compared to 15 suicides in the first six months of 2019. Holmes County recorded one death by suicide this year that occurred in May and had one suicide death total last year.

To create further awareness of suicide prevention, the coalition wants to train more community members on how to recognize the warning signs that someone might be in crisis and how to “question, persuade, and refer” (QPR) someone to help.

The local mental health board has a QPR grant program available for area universities and colleges. The College of Wooster and the University of Akron-Wayne College each have trainers, and the Ohio State University-Agricultural Technical Institute supports suicide prevention using an evidence-based approach.

On behalf of the coalition, the board also received a grant prior to the pandemic from the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation to support additional training, planning, and programs to address suicide prevention.

Talk about it

Foley provides a Signs of Suicide program in the majority of Wayne County school districts to train students to notice at-risk peers and link them to help. He also conducts a depression screening and meets individually with some students to connect them to the appropriate level of followup as well as coaches parents about how to engage youth about difficult feelings.

Foley understands the risk of a suicide contagion when the death of a young person is widely reported. Yet, “if we are too tight-lipped we allow the rumor mill to shape the story, and we send the message that a death by cancer is a chapter in a heroic battle, but a death by suicide is a shameful, scary thing,” he said.

Foley said it’s much worse for the public if suicide is not talked about openly and in an informed, careful, respectful, and dispassionate or calm manner.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Wayne and Holmes Counties offers several outreach programs to help those affected by suicide.

The LOSS Team — Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors — consists of trained mental health professionals acting as volunteers to bring immediate support to survivors of suicide. Suicide survivors are at risk due to their emotional response, which may include the use of unhealthy coping strategies or attempting suicide themselves.

NAMI also hosts a suicide survivors support group called People Affected by a Loved One’s Suicide (PALS). The group meets the fourth Tuesday of the month from 5:30-7 p.m. at 2525 Back Orrville Road in Wooster.

The Counseling Center provides crisis services 24 hours a day by phone at 330-264-9029. One-Eighty, Anazao Community Partners, Catholic Charities and NAMI also provide mental health and addiction treatment services.

The organizations, contracted by the Mental Health and Recovery Board, are providing many of these services using telehealth.

Anazao, OneEighty, and the Counseling Center are offering up to two free, 30-minute sessions for community members or first responders to discuss behavioral health issues during the pandemic. The phone number for Anazao is 330-264-9597, and OneEighty is 330-264-8498.

The agencies are also focusing on contacting five people each day to be supportive, part of the “Strive for Five” initiative.

“We can be a friend by helping others know treatment and support options,” Wood said.

Reach Emily at 330-287-1632 or emorgan@the-daily-record.com. On Twitter: @mogie242

CREDIT: EMILY MORGAN