ABOUT THE SUMMIT
On June 13, community leaders from across North Carolina will be gathering in Chapel Hill to share resources and build connections at the Statewide Summit on Suicide Prevention. Join Carolina Across 100, the UNC Suicide Prevention Institute and community leaders participating in the “Our State, Our Wellbeing” program for this empowering and hope-filled event.
Learn from national, state and local leaders. Talk to community leaders who have been growing their impact through cross-sector collaboration. Participate in a resource fair offering access to available training, programs, funding, and community insights to help your community advance suicide prevention efforts. The CDC Strategies for Suicide Prevention will frame our day of learning as we celebrate local progress and make plans for building on this momentum across the state.
Registration is coming soon – subscribe to be the first to know!
STRATEGIES TO PREVENT SUICIDE
Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have long-lasting effects on individuals, families, and communities. The good news is that suicide is preventable. Preventing suicide requires strategies at all levels of society. This includes prevention and protective strategies for individuals, families, and communities. Everyone can help prevent suicide by learning the warning signs, promoting prevention and resilience, and a committing to social change.
CDC’s Suicide Prevention Resource for Action highlights strategies based on the best available evidence to help states and communities prevent suicide. The strategies and their corresponding approaches are listed in the table below.
Strengthen economic supports
- Improve household financial security
- Stabilize housing
Create protective environments
- Reduce access to lethal means among persons at risk of suicide
- Create healthy organizational policies and culture
- Reduce substance use through community-based policies and practices
Improve access and delivery of suicide care
- Cover mental health conditions in health insurance policies
- Increase provider availability in underserved areas
- Provide rapid and remote access to help
- Create safer suicide care through systems change
Promote healthy connections
- Promote healthy peer norms
- Engage community members in shared activities
Teach coping and problem-solving skills
- Support social-emotional learning programs
- Teach parenting skills to improve family relationships
- Support resilience through education programs
Identify and support people at risk
- Train gatekeepers
- Respond to crises
- Plan for safety and follow-up after an attempt
- Provide therapeutic approaches
Lessen harms and prevent future risk
- Intervene after a suicide (postvention)
- Report and message about suicide safely
What is Our State, Our Wellbeing?
Our State, Our Wellbeing is a 12-month initiative to identify and implement strategies to improve mental health and reduce the number of suicides in North Carolina, launched by Carolina Across 100 and the UNC Suicide Prevention Institute
Understanding Suicide Prevention in NC
Our conversations and research about suicide prevention work led Carolina Across 100 and the UNC Suicide Prevention Instutute to a few clear conclusions. First, the issues of suicide and mental health are shared across the state, but they affect every community differently. In turn, every community brings different assets, resources, and relationships to this challenge. To address this issue effectively, we need local-level input and context alongside coordinated efforts across state-level partners and systems.
