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Suicide and Substance Use
In America, one person dies by suicide every 13 minutes. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), it is the 2nd leading cause of death for teens, and the leading cause of death among people with substance use disorders. There is a strong association...
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Suicide Prevention in the Aging
By 2040, it is estimated that 82 million Americans will be over the age of 65. Approximately 16 million of them will have mental health issues and/or substance use disorders (SAMHSA, 2017). It is also known that the highest rate of suicide is among those 65 years and older. 90% of those who die by...
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Suicide Prevention as a Core Responsibility
Every year more than 40,000 Americans die from suicide and suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States (CDC, 2016). Over eighty percent of people who die from suicide have contact with health and behavioral health care providers in the year prior to their death and almost half...
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Shift in How We Think About Suicide Prevention Needed
Beacon Health Options 2017 White Paper Promotes Zero Suicide Model as Best-In-Class Approach for Suicide Prevention Beacon Health Options’ (Beacon) latest white paper, “We Need to Talk About Suicide,” (http://beaconlens.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Beacon-Zero-Suicide-White-Paper.pdf)...
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NYS Office of Mental Health Announces “1,700 Too Many” Statewide Suicide Prevention Plan
The New York State Office of Mental Health today announced the release of an extensive, multifaceted plan for suicide prevention, aimed at reducing New York State’s suicide rate. To guide suicide prevention statewide, 1,700 Too Many: New York State’s Suicide Prevention Plan will empower...
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From the Publisher’s Desk “The Handshake of Hope”
With the holiday’s only a month or so away, I recall a true story I wrote about several years ago in this publication. It began with, “Let me tell you a story about a simple handshake that saved the life of a man from New York suffering with mental illness.” The year was 1987 and he was 38...
