| Is
there more that your community can do to reduce the possibility of suicide? As communities
strive to prevent suicide, it can be helpful to initiate a process of reviewing existing
prevention plans and also developing new ones. As part of this process, CTRI will guide
your group through a facilitated process to develop a detailed plan for suicide
prevention. This plan usually requires one to two days to develop and will go through
the following phases: |
| |
| Phase 1 - Exploration of what is
happening in your community. |
| Questions
we will explore are: |
- What is the history of suicide and suicide attempts?
- Is the rate of suicide and suicide
attempts increasing or decreasing?
- What is the quantitative or
qualitative data that show what’s happening?
|
|
| Phase 2 - Establishing what the high risk factors
in the community are. |
| Examples: Bullying, mental health, idleness (lack of things
to do), substance use, sexual identity issues, etc. |
| |
| Phase 3 - Explore existing resources in the
community that can address risk factors. |
| Examples: Trained staff in suicide intervention skills,
bullying awareness campaign, access to mental health services, etc. |
| |
| Phase 4 - Discover new resources that can be
developed to address identified risk factors. |
| Examples: More training, better mental health services,
specific strategies to address bullying, etc. |
| |
| Phase 5 - Plan of action – what
are the goals related to what has been discussed? |
| Examples: Who will do what?
What is the time frame? How will
you know it has been accomplished? |
| |
| At
the conclusion of the suicide prevention plan development process, CTRI will distribute a
concise report of the findings from each of the five phases. |
|
|
| It is recommended that those who
participate in the development of the suicide prevention plan first take the training Suicide Prevention, Intervention and
Postvention Strategies. |
