Our State, Our Wellbeing
Resource Expo
Attendees at the June 13 Statewide Summit for Suicide Prevention accessed dozens of experts and resources to help their communities advance local work on suicide prevention. Representatives from more than 40 state and local organizations were present to explain more about available trainings, harm reduction strategies and resources, community engagement outreach and strategies, community education tools, and more!
Expo organizations are grouped by the CDC suicide prevention strategy that most aligns with their work.
Click to expand each section and discover resources that align with each strategy.
NC Navigator Consortium
Resource for marketplace/ACA/Medicaid enrollment access to healthcare
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, North Carolina Chapter
AFSP’s mission is to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide. We are the voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death.
NCDHHS- Division of Aging
The Division of Aging works to promote the independence and enhance the dignity of North Carolina’s older adults, persons with disabilities and their families through a community based system of opportunities, services, benefits and protections.
United Way of North Carolina
Managed by United Way of North Carolina, NC 211 is a multilingual and confidential service providing health and human services information and referrals through a free statewide phone number (2-1-1 or 1-888-892-1162) and website (www.nc211.org). Real-time caller data is available at 211counts.org.
UNC Rural
UNC Rural’s mission is to serve North Carolina by connecting rural community priorities with UNC-CH partners and resources. We collaborate across Carolina on tools and funding opportunities to further support these rural community-campus partnerships.
Carolina Performing Arts
Carolina Performing Arts is the leading multi-arts presenter in the American South, housed at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill. Our mission is to spark curiosity and inspire community members to discover and more deeply engage with the world. Our performances, engagement efforts and campus partnerships have reached hundreds of thousands of patrons, students, and faculty. Visit carolinaperformingarts.org for more information.
Carolina Demography
Carolina Demography is a non-partisan team of population scientists working for the people of North Carolina. We help people get the data they need to understand a changing North Carolina and make informed decisions. Resources: Carolina Demography newsletter, Free data consultation
NC Healthy Schools
NC Healthy Schools focuses on improving the health of students and staff by providing coordination and resources within the context of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. The goal is to create students who are healthier, in school, in class, and ready to learn. Students who are healthier are more alert, more focused on learning, and miss less school. They not only learn better in every class, but they also learn lifelong healthy behaviors. It just makes sense. Resources: Specialized Instructional Support, School Mental Health Policy
One Common Bond
Postvention support is our specialty. We provide grief support packages after suicide loss, facilitate postvention actions, and link surviving families to various agencies for continued support. One Common Bond conducts suicide prevention training for schools, churches, and community members. Virtual and in-person training is available.
NC Poison Control
NC Poison Control provides fast and expert help when someone has been exposed to a poison. NCPC serves people in all 100 counties of North Carolina and can be reached by calling 1-800-222-1222 or by chatting at www.ncpoisoncontrol.org. NCPC provides treatment advice for the general public as well as healthcare providers. The service is free, confidential, and open around the clock.
Beth Palmer Studio
Beth Palmer, NC Art Educator of the Year, Emeritus Division and National Academy of Medicine Change Maker Cohort for Clinician Well Being, in collaboration with Dr. Natasha Donnelly, PMHNP-BC, MSN, PhD in suicide prevention
Sources of Strength
The mission of Sources of Strength is to prevent adverse outcomes by increasing wellbeing, help-seeking, resiliency, healthy coping, and belonging. Sources of Strength moves beyond a singular focus on risk factors by utilizing an upstream approach for youth suicide prevention. This upstream model strengthens multiple sources of support, or protective factors, for young people so that when times get hard, they have strengths to rely on.
The Joel Fund
The Joel Fund’s mission is to reconnect veterans to life at home. We use the power of community to engage, educate, and encourage veterans and their families. We accomplish our mission through programs focused on community and resiliency: Operation Connect, Operation ART, and Operation Furnish.
NC S.A.F.E.
NC S.A.F.E. (Secure All Firearms Effectively) is North Carolina’s statewide initiative designed to raise awareness of the importance of safe firearm storage. Established in 2023, the initiative provides resources and best practices for firearm storage and safety. NC S.A.F.E. is not associated with any advocacy-based initiatives related to gun laws or regulations.
Veterans Bridge Home
Veterans Bridge Home connects veterans and their families, in any state of transition, to the community. Through our network of partners, we help veterans navigate employment, create social connections, and settle their families.
Bright Path Behavioral Health
Bright Path Behavioral Health is a teen-exclusive provider that offers Partial Hospitalization Programming and Intensive Outpatient Programming for teens who’s mental health is effecting their daily life functioning and once weekly therapy is not enough. In their commitment to their community’s wellbeing, Bright Path has expanded its offering for the summer to include Preventative Social-Emotional Programming for teens who’s mental health is stable, but they would like to enhance their emotional intelligence, learn coping and regulation skills, improve social navigation, and expand their sense of self-worth. Bright Path is driven by a mission to provide a safe, judgement-free space for adolescents to address their mental health needs and strengths the collective resilience of their community. Resources: Bright Path Behavioral Health programs, Teen Mental Health blog
Suicide Prevention Institute – Tealeaf
We train teachers in mental health skills so that they can support their students in elementary school and middle school classrooms. We have shown this to be effective in India, and we are now bringing to the US as part of upstream suicide prevention through the UNC Suicide Prevention Institute. We are first running a research trial in 2024-2025 to show its impact and how teachers implement it in US classrooms.
Healthy Aging NC
As North Carolina’s statewide resource center for evidence-based health programs, Healthy Aging NC connects people to the programs and agencies that improve community health; increases the capacity of providers to offer these programs; maintains the website with current program information and online registration systems; and collects and analyzes data to report results.
North Carolina Agromedicine Institute
The mission of the North Carolina Agromedicine Institute is to promote the health and safety of farmers, fishermen, foresters, their workers, and their families through research, prevention/intervention, and education/outreach. As a part of these efforts, the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network of North Carolina (FRSAN-NC) is a partnership that connects farmers, ranchers, and others working in agriculture-related settings with stress assistance programs and resources. These connections help to improve the physical and emotional well-being of our state’s agricultural workforce.
House Call Counseling & Healing Arts
House Call Counseling & Healing Arts is a social enterprise on a mission to revolutionize access to mental healthcare. We believe everyone deserves high-quality mental health services, regardless of where they live or how much they can afford. By leveraging technology and fostering community partnerships, we bridge the gap between traditional mental healthcare and the communities they often struggle to reach.
NC AHEC
NC AHEC’s mission is to provide and support educational activities and services with a focus on primary care in rural communities and those with less access to resources to recruit, train, and retain the workforce needed to create a healthy North Carolina. We envision a state where every North Carolinian is healthy and supported by an appropriate and well-trained health workforce that reflects the communities it serves. For upcoming NC AHEC Trainings and Events: https://www.ncahec.net/courses-and-events
NAMI Wake County
NAMI Wake County is the regional affiliate for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, proudly serving Raleigh and 11 other cities in Wake County for 37 years. We provide support, education, advocacy, and public awareness so that all individuals, families, and communities facing mental health challenges can live better lives. We work to address disparities and injustices and to promote dignity and inclusion for all people with mental illness and their families. In addition to being advocates, we educate, we listen, and we lead as evidenced by our public awareness campaigns, the range of numerous programs we provide, and our strong public policy.
North Carolina/Bermuda Al-Anon Family Groups
Al-Anon family groups are for individuals who have been affected by someone else’s drinking. We learn we didn’t cause, can’t cure, and can’t control the disease. Through support of others who have been through the same situation we find hope and solutions to cope with our grief, sorrow, and pain.
El Futuro
El Futuro’s mission is to nurture stronger familias to live out their dreams. We do this by providing therapy, psychiatry, case management, substance use treatment, and other mental health services in a welcoming environment of healing and hope. We serve over 2,500 individuals and their families each year. Founded in 2004 to meet the otherwise-unmet need for bilingual mental health services for North Carolina’s growing Latino immigrant community, El Futuro has grown to become the state’s trusted resource for trauma-informed, culturally responsive mental health services. Additionally, El Futuro supports training and capacity building of over 2,100 allied providers through our La Mesita learning network and by hosting resident physicians, nurse practitioner students, counseling and social work graduate students and psychology interns for yearlong rotations. Our vision is that all Latino families who seek mental health support can access appropriate services and function at their most vibrant at home, work, and school, strengthening our entire community.
Be CALM
The Be CALM Program at UNC-Chapel Hill develops student and educator resilience in the context of stress with a multi-tiered mindfulness-based social-emotional learning intervention for middle and high schools. We start by building social emotional competencies in school staff and strengthening student-teacher relationships and positive school climate through best-practice professional development and implementation support. A 12-16 lesson Tier 1 classroom curriculum and small group counseling sessions are available, as well as whole-school SEL supports. Results of two pilot studies funded by the Department of Education suggest promising impact on educator wellbeing and skills as well as student emotion regulation, conflict resolution skills, and academic confidence.
HopeWay
Psychiatrist-led nonprofit Mental Health Treatment Center located in Charlotte.
April Health
April Health partners with primary care providers in rural areas to help them deliver mental health care to their patients via the collaborative care model. We are currently partnered with Lifepoint Health in Rutherford & Haywood counties and are looking for additional opportunities to expand our reach and impact.
DHHS Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Team
The NC Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Team provides community helper, CALM (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means), and ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) training in addition to holding webinars, academies, and symposiums to engage and educate communities. This team provides expert advice in suicide prevention, advises on media campaigns, and supports several important collaborations including the Faith Leaders Building Bridges Coalition, Firearm Safety Teams Coalition, and the NC Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Advisory Council. Additionally, this team maintains and updates the on-line NC Inventory of Suicide Prevention Programs, and provides fact sheets, dashboards, and quarterly data reports on suicide and self-harm in NC. A special initiative of this team has been the creation of the Faith Leaders for Life program, which provides community helper training to faith leaders and communities in rural areas statewide.
Wake County Veteran Services Division
Wake County Veterans Services Division supports over 55k veterans with VA claims, benefits, and compensation, as well as providing referrals and resource access for social determinants of health.
School of Social Work – Behavioral Health Springboard – Mental Health First Aid
The Behavioral Health Springboard provides training and workforce development in the area of behavioral health. Specifically, Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour training that will give students, staff, and faculty the skills to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. Just as CPR training helps a layperson without medical training assist an individual following a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid training helps a layperson assist someone experiencing a mental health crisis.
Durham VA Health Care System
Since 1953, Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center has been improving the health of the men and women who have so proudly served our nation. We consider it our privilege to serve your healthcare needs in any way we can. Services are available to more than 200,000 Veterans living in a 27-county area of central and eastern North Carolina.
NC Child
At NC Child our mission is to improve the lives of all North Carolina children. We do that through research, community engagement, and policy advocacy. Youth mental health is one of our priorities including increasing suicide prevention resources.
NC Division of Mental Health Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services
Providing quality support to achieve self-determination for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and quality services to promote treatment and recovery for individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders. DMHDDSUS oversees the North Carolina 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
NC Care 360
NCCARE360 provides a solution to a fragmented health and human services system by connecting providers and organizations across sectors in a shared technology network. In the NCCARE360 network, providers can electronically connect individuals and families who have unmet social needs to community resources. NCCARE360 is the first statewide network that unites health care and human services organizations. Resource: NCCARE360 Assistance Request Form
Coastal Horizons Center, Inc.
Coastal Horizons provides a continuum of professional services to promote healthier lives, stronger families, and safer communities. Resources: Coastal Horizons program support
Partners Health Management
Partners Health Management (Partners) manages Medicaid, state and local funds for mental health, intellectual/developmental disabilities, substance use disorder and traumatic brain injury services, and when Tailored Plans launch July 1, 2024, we will cover physical health and pharmacy services, as well. Partners covers 15 counties across the state and works with members, their families, internal and external community partners through a variety of outreach methods. Our Community Engagement Team is designed to meet the unique needs of each community we serve through active participation, collaboration, training and other innovative approaches. We believe by working together and sharing resources, we can collectively create a system of care with the most focused, positive impact for the members and recipients in our communities.
Trillium Health Resources
Trillium Health Resources is a Managed Care Organization (and future Tailored Plan) that manages serious mental health, substance use, traumatic brain injury, and intellectual/developmental disability services in North Carolina. We work with our provider network to strengthen foundations of well-being and help deepen connections between citizens and their communities. Together with our state leaders, we are invested in the future of the public health system to help everyone in our region.
Suicide Prevention Institute (SPI)
The SPI team unites researchers, clinicians, educators, policymakers, people of faith, those in marginalized communities, and lived experience advisors to rapidly deploy scalable evidence-informed primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention interventions for suicide. The team is focused on prevention and treatment using innovative evidence-based interventions to improve the lives of North Carolinians and beyond, addressing the mental health crisis impacting children, adolescents, and young adults and improving the mental health care of suicidal people. Our work will serve as an exportable model for other regions around the country and the world.
Atrium Health
Atrium Health is a large healthcare organization striving to meet people where they are at. Instilling Zero Suicide within Atrium ensures that our highest risk clients will get the care needed in any environment.
Integrated Family Services, PLLC
Integrated Family Services, PLLC offers a comprehensive range of behavioral health services. For nearly two decades, our most well-known service has been mobile crisis management, which we deliver across 33 counties in eastern North Carolina. Our dedicated team responds to crises involving mental health, substance use, or developmental disabilities, providing timely and effective support to individuals in need.
Supplemental Online Resources
Find additional information about suicide reduction programs and supports at the links below
Calm America
Zero Suicide
Suicide Prevention Resource Center
National Academy of Medicine
Stop Solider Suicide
National Organization for Arts in Health
Broadleaf
UNC Health Care Tar Heel Trauma
i2i Center for Integrative Health
CareNet
JED Foundation
Social Bridging NC
NC Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network
Cedar Oaks Clinic PLLC
NC Statewide Telepsychiatry Program
NC Families United
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.
