ALBANY \u2014 The state announced last week that rural counties will receive grant money to help fund suicide prevention programs.<\/p>\n
Wayne and Yates counties, among others, were chosen to receive funds from a four-year grant through the state\u2019s Office of Mental Health. The Rural Suicide Prevention Initiative to Strengthen Community-led Prevention and Resiliency Efforts will disperse $1.6 million over a four-year period.<\/p>\n
The Oct. 8 announcement follows on the heels of a two-day conference on rural suicide prevention hosted in Ithaca last week. It was presented by the Suicide Prevention Center of New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach of the 1,700 New Yorkers who die by suicide annually represents an incalculable loss,\u201d said Dr. Ann Sullivan, the state\u2019s Mental Health commissioner. \u201cThey were our colleagues, our friends, and our family members \u2014 our loved ones. At OMH, we have an unwavering commitment to reducing the tragedy of suicide by reducing isolation and removing barriers to care, especially in our high-risk rural communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lisa Principio, director of Community Services for Yates County, said that the funding supports county-level activities help bolster outreach efforts concerning suicide prevention and mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an identified committed partner, Yates County will serve as a subcontractor and collaborative partner under the grant and receive $50,000 per year over the course of the grant cycle to support implementation of the ROOTS-NY initiative,\u201d Principio said. \u201cPartner counties will work collaboratively with state and community partners to identify local needs, develop and implement strategies responsive to those needs, and strengthen sustainable community systems that promote mental health and prevent suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYates County is excited to partner with OMH SPCNY to advance upstream approaches to suicide prevention and mental health promotion in our rural county,\u201d Principio continued. \u201cThe initiative will bring together community organizations, service providers, local leaders, and individuals with lived experience to identify local needs and develop sustainable strategies that promote mental wellness and help prevent suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharon MacDougall, director of Community Services for Wayne County, also expressed gratitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cNYS Office of Mental Health and their Suicide Prevention Center of New York was awarded the Federal SAMHSA Grant: Adult Suicide Prevention. Then they reached out to key rural counties, including Wayne, which matched this funding intended to support rural county-level activities that strengthen community-based suicide prevention,\u201d MacDougall said. \u201cWayne County Mental Health Department has lead the Wayne Suicide Prevention Coalition and was honored that NYS OMH & SPCNY reached out to partner for this award implementation. We have upcoming planning meetings with them for the County implementation of this grant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything we can do to help someone in crisis we want to ensure we are doing,\u201d added Wayne County Administrator Dr. Mark Humbert. \u201cLife is precious. The loss of life is tragic, especially to suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
The OMH reported that between 2022-24, counties participating in ROOTS-NY had a combined suicide rate of 12.23 per 100,000 population \u2014 significantly higher than the statewide rate of 8.77.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout half of suicide deaths in these counties were by firearm,\u201d the OMH wrote, \u201ccompared to 29%, highlighting the opportunity available to promote lethal means safety as part of the initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY \u2014 The state announced last week that rural counties will receive grant money to help fund suicide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[137001,136999,9665,2953,82072,137002,2190,9730,9,11,10,49,51,50,19351,137000,15770,340,115003,7682,136998],"class_list":["post-371878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-causes-of-death","tag-county-united-states","tag-hazards","tag-health","tag-medical-ethics","tag-mental-disorders","tag-mental-health","tag-michigan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-new-york-state-office-of-mental-health","tag-self-harm","tag-social-issues","tag-suicide","tag-suicide-prevention","tag-wayne-county","tag-yates-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}