The Lake County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board recently announced that it is partnering with the Zero Suicide Institute with the goal of eliminating suicide deaths in Lake County.
In 2021 there were 48 suicide deaths in Lake County, up nearly 30% from the previous year, according to a news release. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. and the second leading cause of death for 10- to 34-year-olds.
Zero Suicide’s foundational belief is that suicide deaths for those under the care of health and behavioral health systems are preventable. The organization takes a system-wide approach to improve outcomes and close gaps.
The ADAMHS Board hosted a two-day Zero Suicide Academy in April where clinical care providers in their network learned ways to evaluate current protocols in their agencies, and create and implement changes.
“This is anything but a quick-fix,” Lake ADAMHS Executive Director Kimberly Fraser stated in the release. “It represents a very serious commitment from our entire system and we’re very focused on getting it right.”
The Lake County ADAMHS system started the Lake County Suicide Prevention Coalition in 2005 and continues to lead that effort, the release stated. Their website, HelpThatWorks.us, has easy-to-find suicide prevention information and officials have done multiple Question, Persuade, Refer presentations in recent years as well as promoted emergency resources including the Lake County Crisis Hotline and Crisis Text Line.
However, Fraser noted there’s room for improvement.
“One suicide in Lake County is one too many,” she stated in the release. “If we’re not constantly looking for ways to better our efforts we’re not doing our job.”
Fraser added that the partnership is one of the first of its kind in Ohio.
“We are the only the fourth Ohio entity to partner with the Zero Suicide Institute,” she noted. “When we learned of this
program we reached out to Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services and asked if they would support this partnership. They responded with a generous $130,000 grant to bring the Zero Suicide Institute to our network.”
The ADAMHS Board is responsible for planning, evaluating, monitoring, and funding services for Lake County residents dealing with mental illness and/or substance-use disorders.