Ex-Florida conversion therapy leader arrested in child predator sting<\/a><\/p>\nHenderson employs trained clinicians, licensed social workers and mental health counselors among other specialists. It now serves not only Broward County, but Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast and other points north. Its professionals, Ronek said, have often responded to emergency calls to help deal with the aftermath of deaths involving trains.<\/p>\n
Pedestrian and trespasser deaths along South Florida\u2019s rail corridors have vexed rail operators for years as urban and transportation planners have sought to expand railroad operations as a means of relieving the tri-county area\u2019s congested highways. Brightline, the high-speed rail line that uses the historic Florida East Coast Railway line east of Interstate 95, is a national leader in train-pedestrian strikes and deaths, according to federal data.<\/p>\n
At the Tri-Rail-Henderson news conference, Diane Hernandez Del Calvo, interim executive director of SFRTA, said the partnership goes beyond the company\u2019s traditional concern about maintaining high safety standards. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about recognizing that many of the incidents we encounter around or near railroad property involve individuals who may be experiencing emotional distress, crisis, trauma or hopelessness,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Last year, she noted, Florida ranked second nationally in railroad trespassing casualties with 65 fatalities and 70 injuries statewide. \u201cWe continue to see these incidents at an alarming rate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Last year, Tri-Rail had 12 train-pedestrian \u201cstrikes\u201d with nine of them fatal. So far this year, there have been 14 strikes with 10 fatalities. This week alone, she added, there were four incidents involving pedestrians along the state-owned rail corridor used by Tri-Rail. <\/p>\n
Employees as \u2018bridges\u2019 for help <\/p>\n
The goal of the \u201cAre You OK\u201d program is not to convert railroad employees into mental health clinicians, but to help them recognize the signs of people in distress, engage them and buy time to summon professional help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason somebody completes a suicide is because they are trying to stop pain,\u201d Ronik told the Sun Sentinel. \u201cit\u2019s a very simple equation. It\u2019s tragic but they can\u2019t tolerate the pain anymore. And unfortunately they become unrealistically hopeless.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe overall message is no one has to die by suicide,\u201d he added. \u201cIn 2026 we have incredible, compassionate, innovative science-based mental health care that works. You have great outcomes. The whole key is to get somebody in that first step to engage not only with Henderson, but with many of the excellent health providers in South Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the presentation, a Henderson social worker met with more than a dozen Tri-Rail employees to discuss the program and learn how it works. Participation is not mandatory.<\/p>\n
But the urgency was not lost on the people in the room.<\/p>\n
Just the night before, at the rail line\u2019s station in Boynton Beach, a young man reportedly jumped from the platform into the path of one of Tri-Rail\u2019s northbound trains. He died after being taken to a hospital, a company spokesman said, citing a police account.<\/p>\n
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, contact the 988 suicide and crisis hotline, or contact 211 Broward Crisis<\/a> and Suicide Care Support at 211-broward.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL) \u2014 Despite repeated efforts to cut down on the deaths…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-277831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}