If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call the suicide and crisis lifeline – 988.
A newly-published statewide plan in Missouri is aimed at lowering the risk of suicide in families and communities.
The five-year Missouri Suicide Prevention Plan was written by the Missouri Suicide Prevention Network in collaboration with the Missouri Behavioral Health Counciland the Department of Mental Health.
Missouri’s suicide rate – 18.7 per 100,000 people – is higher than the national average of 14.04, according to DMH. Suicide was the 16th leading cause of death in Missouri as of 2021 and the third leading cause for 10 to 17-year-olds, according to data by DMH. And suicide rates increased 29% from 2010 to 2021.
The plan offers suggestions for what people can do in their own communities to make a difference.
Actions you can take now
Actions people can take now, it states, include visitingMissouri988.org, spreading the word about 988, getting trained and supporting community-led efforts to promote suicide prevention, intervention and postvention care. The latter is an intervention conducted after a suicide to help grieving loved ones and prevent further suicides.
One training, the MO Ask Listen Refer (MO-ALR) Suicide Prevention Training Program, is a 30-minute opportunity to learn how to tell when someone is at risk for suicide, how to keep someone safe from suicide, the warning signs of suicide and how to respond to and get help for people who are at risk.
Goals
The plan’s sort-term goals (one to two years) are:
· Review the current suicide prevention trainings available in the community
· Create a public-facing guide to help people find and share suicide prevention trainings
· Create a 988-awareness survey to assess awareness of 988 and how Missourians are using it to prevent suicide
· Promote evidence-based wellness activities that address mental health and suicide prevention
Medium-term goals (two to four years) are:
· Create a network of Missouri suicide prevention trainers
· Create a plan to provide online and in-person suicide prevention trainings to various communities in Missouri
· Create culturally relevant materials for different communities
· Send 988 promotional materials to Missouri areas most impacted by suicide
· Expand these promotional activities to reach people who are at a higher risk of suicide
· Send out the 988 awareness survey to assess awareness of 988
· Provide education on safety and how to limit access to lethal means
Long-term goals (up to five years) include:
· Implement the plan to provide online and in-person suicide prevention trainings to various communities in Missouri
· Analyze 988 awareness survey results
· Create a program to identify local suicide prevention leaders and champions who share 988 as a resource
· Create materials to promote survivor groups, culturally responsive efforts, postvention care and Zero Suicide
