Suicide Prevention Program

Over 700,000 people die from suicide each year. That's one person every 11 minutes. In the United States, that's one person every 11 minutes. For every adult who dies by suicide, it's estimated that more than 20 others attempt it. It is the leading cause of death for individuals over the age of 85. More than half of those who died by suicide did not have a known mental health condition, causing confusion and tremendous loss for families and communities. One in 11 high school aged youth reporting having made a suicide attempt and one in five high school aged youth report having seriously considered attempting suicide. It also leaves a lasting impact on businesses. Serious mental illness is associated with $193.2 billon loss annually in the U.S., half of which is attributed to reduced productivity of workers. But, 94% of adults surveyed in the United States believe suicide can be prevented. There is hope. If you are feeling hopeful there is a solution, but might be feeling helpless on where to start, the ONE Movement can help.

The results of the Ozarks Health Commission/Springfield Greene County Health Department’s Community Health Needs Assessment released in the Spring of 2022, outlined a number of key assessed health issues, including mental illness. The prevalence of depression, and the much higher than average suicide rate in the Ozarks area, are all components of this identified community health need.

Every 5.5 days, someone in Springfield dies by suicide. The suicide mortality rate in Springfield and in the Ozarks Health Commission Region is far higher than the state or national average.

The Springfield area’s suicide rate is 60% higher than the national average, for example. Further, 28% of all emergency department visits associated with an assessed health issue were due to mental health or substance use in the Springfield Community.

Southwest Missourians overwhelmingly believe suicide is preventable. There is hope.

Through the Advancing Wellness grant provided by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks to Burrell Behavioral Health and to the Greene County Health Department, we are collaborating to create programs to address these statistics. Burrell Behavioral Health seeks to create awareness and prevent suicides in the three highest populations in our area:

Senior citizens 85+

LGBTQIA+

Adult Men

Burrell will utilize Sources of Strength, Be Well Initiatives and the ONE Movement to implement trauma-informed approaches that recognize and intentionally respond to suicide risk and increase protective factors. Risk factors are defined as characteristics at the biological, psychological, family, community or cultural level that precede and are associated with a higher likelihood of negative outcomes. Protective factors are defined as characteristics associated with a lower likelihood of negative outcomes or that reduce a risk factor’s impact. Protective factors may be seen as positive, countering events to risk factors. Risk and protective factors are intertwined and can exist at the same time on an individual level, in relationships, in communities and in society; these correlations mean that early intervention programs, and interventions that target multiple factors at once, can be effective in mitigating risk and encouraging protective factors.

Sources of Strength is a best practice youth mental health promotion and suicide prevention program designed to harness the power of peer social networks to create healthy norms and culture. The goal is to ultimately prevent suicide, violence, bullying and substance misuse. 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. This training and programing will be provided to buildings in the Springfield Metro area free of charge by trained facilitators and mentors. If you are interested in receiving this life-saving programing, please contact us at one@burrellcenter.com

Be Well celebrates brain health and builds stronger connections through the Springfield community. Be Well Summits will be planned and conducted to serve the needs of the three identified populations in highest need, funded by the Advancing Wellness Grant.

Summits will be rooted in Be Well Brain Health and curated specifically to meet the needs of the populations served. This grant will help pay for the planning, marketing and day-of activities associated with a full scale, full day Suicide Prevention Summit.

Be Well Initiatives is a wellness program that has its sights set on a healthier, more resilient world. We plan to achieve this by making available/equipping all people with strategies to Be Well outside of the four walls of our community mental health center. We believe that because we all have brains, we deserve to understand how it works and how to best care for it. It is through trusting relationships that we engage in conversations to reduce stigma related to discussing our mental health as an important part of our whole health wellness.

In healing community, Be Well Initiatives engages in transparent, honest conversation about brain health, welcoming all of us as whole humans to arrive authentically. Through modeling fallibility and vulnerability, providing validation and elevating the lived experiences of all participants, Be Well Initiatives normalizes conversations about diagnosed mental illness and our brains as a vital piece of our whole health. Be Well Initiatives not only provides education rooted in the most recent neuroscience, but we also hold time and space to put the practices to work, together, in healing connection.

This includes education associated with how bias, discrimination and hate have a devastating impact on our health. We focus on building belonging, knowing that wellness requires inclusion. We engage the community in a continual process of providing Be Well Initiatives with feedback, remaining flexible in evaluating our practices and language, and assessing for the most meaningful ways to deliver content that is intentional and appropriate for the moment.