Edition 57 | January 2023

Welcome to the January 2023 Office of Suicide Prevention newsletter! Happy New Year!

This month's OSP Rockstar Partner is Kimberlee Bow.

Kimberlee Bow is a Masters level Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Registered Dance/Movement Therapist (R-DMT) based in Douglas County, Colorado, focused on providing services across populations from a social justice perspective. A dance/movement therapy and creative arts perspective is what her business, AbunDANCE Somatic Center, is rooted in and grows throughout the community.

A passionate, dedicated and devoted professional. She has experience ranging from clinical to director level work spanning multiple different populations. In addition to her professional experience, she is a passionate volunteer. Volunteering with organizations such as Veterans Administration, Alzheimer's Association, the Red Cross, and National Jewish Health, her passion for people and their communities is always in her heart. More recently, Kimberlee launched This is Life Yoga offering free trauma-informed, accessible yoga to advocate for a culture change around self-care.  In addition to her past volunteer work with CDPHE's Office of Suicide Prevention and the LaPlata and Montezuma Suicide Prevention Coalitions, Kimberlee currently serves on the Colorado Suicide Postvention Committee, and as a Postvention Alliance board member.

Prior to her career in the field, Kimberlee was awarded her Master's Degree in Somatic Counseling Psychology from Naropa University in Boulder, CO after completing her undergraduate degree in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO. Currently she is doctoral student at the University of Arizona Global Campus where she has become an advocate for the student voice.

Do you have a Rockstar Partner in your community that you would like to see featured in our next newsletter? Nominate them here by completing our Rockstar Partner Nomination Form.

The first regular session of the 74th General Assembly (Colorado's legislature) convened on January 9, 2023. The Office of Suicide Prevention continues to gear up for another busy legislative session. Please email us at [email protected] if you have any questions or are working on something policy-related that you want to share with the OSP.

Funding Opportunities

The OSP recently posted an RFP (2023000179) for a Suicide Screening and Assessment Training for healthcare providers who work with youth. OSP is seeking an administrator of evidence-based, best-practice, and/or evidence-informed suicide screening, suicide risk assessments and/or suicide safety plan trainings to professionals within youth-serving organizations. The single point of contact for this solicitation is: PA [email protected]. All correspondence concerning this must be sent to the single point of contact above.

We are excited to announce that the OSP, through generous support of the Attorney General’s Office, still has a few open funding slots for eligible Colorado middle and high schools to participate in Sources of Strength's Peer Leader and Adult Advisor trainings. If you are interested in receiving Sources of Strength training prior to May 2023 at no cost to your organization, please fill out the application here. Sources of Strength provides upstream evidence-based prevention for suicide, violence, bullying and substance abuse by training, supporting, and empowering both peer leaders and caring adults to impact their world through the power of connection, hope, help and strength. If you have any questions please contact Hannah Fageeh at [email protected]. 

Colorado-National Collaborative

In The News: The 'power to save a life': Suicide Prevention Summit of El Paso County aims to reduce suicide by 20%. Read more about CNC efforts at the El Paso County Suicide Preveniton Summitt and the great collaboration across multiple partner from schools, hospitals, law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, coroner’s office, parent groups and more!

State Partners

HealthWatch No. 121: Suicide in Colorado, 2016-2020: A Summary from the Colorado Violent Death Reporting System: This report provides descriptive information for the years 2016 to 2020 and includes summaries of demographic characteristics of suicide victims, injury characteristics, contributing circumstances, and post-mortem toxicology results. The goal of sharing these data is to provide a more complete picture of the populations that may be at greater risk for suicide in Colorado in order to aid ongoing suicide prevention and intervention programs.

Office of Gun Violence Prevention grant funding now available to help reduce violence in Colorado communities. The new grant program is designed to fund projects that conduct community-based gun violence prevention initiatives that are evidence-informed and have demonstrated promise at reducing violence. Funds may be used for education, training and community programs regarding topics including responsible gun ownership practices, safe storage, existing laws, mental health, and substance use resources. Learn more on their FAQ page. For priority consideration, applications should be completed by 6 p.m. MST on Feb. 9, 2023. Apply here.

The Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) is offering a variety of engagement opportunities for stakeholders and the public to share insight, feedback, and recommendations as an integral part of the design and development of the Behavioral Health Administrative Service Organizations (BHASOs) Implementation Plan. Join the BHA for a BHASO Community Forum on February 2, 2023 from 2:00 - 3:30 pm Mountain Time.

The next Zero Suicide Learning Collaborative will be held tomorrow, Thursday, January 26th, from 10:00am - 11:00 am. This Learning Collaborative will cover Trauma-Informed Zero Suicide Implementation and Care. Please email [email protected] to be added to this calendar invite and listserv. Recordings and slides from previous Learning Collaboratives can be found here.

Suicide Care Insights: Stories & Tips for Your Implementation: This resource identifies six topics related to workforce wellbeing and how safe suicide care can transform organizational culture. The topics are presented to you as a series of six resources using a mixed-media approach. 

Follow-Up Project

Over the last few years the Colorado Follow-Up Project has grown tremendously, and now more than ever we are seeking hospitals to join our efforts to reduce suicide in CO; we highly encourage rural hospitals to enroll in this critical resource. All Colorado emergency departments are eligible to receive this FREE service! 

The  Colorado Follow-Up Project collaborates with multiple emergency departments across the state, and your site could be one of them! Since 2015, the Office of Suicide Prevention (OSP) and statewide hotline provider Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners have worked to connect people who are transitioning out of hospital care to caring contacts from trained clinicians and peers. Please visit our website to see eligibility criteria and currently enrolled sites. 

We encourage hospital staff who are responsible for and interested in transition care and post-discharge services to reach out to [email protected] to schedule a consult call. OR fill out the interest form for next steps, and she will contact you as soon as possible.

Commission

Please join the upcoming Quarterly Suicide Prevention Commission meeting on Friday, January 27, 2023, 9-11:30am. This will be our first meeting in the New Year! We are excited to announce that this meeting will be provided in English and Spanish. The OSP and Commission are dedicated to creating equitable access to the information provided and will provide all of the Commission meetings with live Spanish interpretation moving forward. Information on how to join the Commission meeting is here.

The Commission currently has four open seats: Law Enforcement, Interfaith Organization, Colorado Business Community, and a Philanthropic Foundation seat. Here is the application for anyone who is interested in applying for these openings.

The Suicide Prevention Commission supports multiple workgroups: an Older Adults Workgroup; a Youth-Specific Initiatives Workgroup; the Governor’s Challenge Workgroup to Support Service Members, Veterans, and their Families; and a Postvention Workgroup. Click here to sign up for any of the workgroups. All workgroup materials can be found here.

The Suicide Prevention Commission's Postvention Workgroup is currently looking to identify existing suicide postvention written resources in the Spanish language in order to share out these resources with the broader Colorado community. The Postvention Workgroup recently released the Postvention Resource Gathering Form in both English and Spanish in order to solicit Spanish-translated postvention resources. Please share these with partners, organizations, etc. We would love to have a robust resource list of postvention materials available in Spanish to share with our Colorado communities! 

If you have any questions or are interested in participating in the various workgroups or Commission meetings, please contact the Commission Coordinator Alise Nichols at [email protected].

Man Therapy

Man Therapy brings effective digital mental health support to the population most likely to commit suicide, CDC study finds. The website is designed to educate, reduce stigma and encourage men to seek help in times of crisis.

Training

The next virtual CAMS training will be Wednesday, February 8th, 2023 from 8:30am-4:30pm. Please register here.  

*Please note that space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Submitting an application does not guarantee your space. OSP staff will reach out to applicants to confirm registration. 

If you are interested in attending an in-person CAMS training later in 2023, please complete this form. 

If you are interested in attending a different virtual CAMS training session, please join our interest list. 

The Office of Suicide Prevention has updated the instructions for accessing the LivingWorks Start gatekeeper training. Please see this instruction sheet for more details. Please visit the Office of Suicide Prevention’s Training webpage for more information on CAMS, LivingWorks Start, and much more!

Please note: There is an "Upcoming Events" section at the end of the newsletter. If your browser clips this email, please be sure to click "View entire message" to access all of the content!

Equity

Navigating the (un)comfortable: Racial/ethnic identity in suicide prevention: For decades, scholarship on understanding and addressing racial and ethnic disparities in suicide research has been ignored, dismissed, or underfunded by funders, and rejected by publishers. This webinar is the first to explicitly address the ways that scholars of color have navigated the barriers to grant funding and publication on race/ethnicity research that exist in the suicide field. Watch the recording here. 

Live Another Day - Resources for Supporting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color: Live Another Day believes in equal access to life-saving mental health and substance use resources. This website provides extensive information on the best resources available.

Detox Local has several guides which outline some unique challenges faced by various groups of people, including resources for the Asian American + Pacific Islander community and the LGBTQ community.

General

The CDC has updated their Suicide Data and Statistics page! National data is available regarding suicide-related hospitalizations, emergency department visits, suicide attempts, and serious thoughts of suicide; groups disproportionately impacted by suicide; methods used in suicides; and suicide rates. 

Digital bibliotherapy as a scalable intervention for suicidal thoughts: A randomized controlled trial. This study demonstrates that reading user-generated narratives about experiences with and recovery from suicidal thoughts/behaviors may be an effective and scalable way to help people experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Community-Led Suicide Prevention helps communities come together to create and reach their suicide prevention goals. This web toolkit provides step-by-step information and how-to tools for comprehensive suicide prevention. Community-Led Suicide Prevention was inspired by The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Transforming Communities report.

Youth and Young Adults

Inside Out Youth Services provides quality programs and services to LGBTQIA2+ youth in Colorado Springs and the surrounding counties. Their wide range of offerings includes support groups, mentoring opportunities, educational workshops, and social activities, designed to meet the unique needs of LGBTQIA2+ youth and young adults at all stages of their journey.

Older Adults

Talk Saves Lives: An Introduction to Suicide Prevention for Seniors is a community-based presentation that covers what we know about this leading cause of death, the most up-to-date research on prevention, and what we can all do to fight suicide. Participants will learn the common risk factors for suicide in older adults, how to spot the warning signs in others, and how to keep ourselves, our loved ones and those in our community safe. The AFSP Colorado Chapter is hosting a virtual Colorado Talk Saves Lives - Seniors Event on February 4, 2023, 9:30 am MT. Register here or contact Sherry Davis ([email protected]) for more information. 

Rural Resources

Rural Mental Health Resources and Toolkit from the Colorado Department of Agriculture 

Identifying and Providing Health Education Materials for Migrant Farmworkers: This recorded webinar discusses the importance of community partnerships in supporting health information for migrant farmworkers, ideas on how health science librarians and libraries can support migrant farmworkers, and future needs of the migrant and seasonal farmworker population.

Lethal Means Safety & Overdose Prevention

The Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention is now accepting applications for the grant writing assistance program until the allocated funds are expended. This 2022-2023 cycle will utilize funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to provide community-based services related to the prevention, harm reduction, intervention, treatment, recovery and/or criminal justice/diversion of substance use disorders. Click here to learn more.

Cross-Pollinated Resources

SAMHSA has issued a new guide on “Expanding access to and use of behavioral health services for people at risk for or experiencing homelessness”. This guide highlights strategies for behavioral health and housing providers to conduct outreach and engage with individuals experiencing homelessness, initiate use of behavioral health treatment as they wait to receive stable housing and retain them in their recovery efforts once housed. A webinar highlighting findings from this new guide will be held Thursday, February 2nd 12:00 - 1:00pm MT. Register here. 

The Colorado Suicide Prevention Day at the Capitol brings together passionate volunteers to advocate for state policy changes that will improve mental health and prevent suicide. This year’s Hill Day is March 1, 2023, 7:30am-1:00pm. The event will include a brief training session on the basics of an effective advocacy visit and current policy issues impacting suicide prevention. Following, advocates will have the opportunity to attend meetings with state legislators that will be scheduled ahead of time. Register here by February 26th, 2023. 

Save the date! The 2023 Shared Risk and Protective Factors Conference will be held May 30th - 31st for the virtual session and in person at the Keystone Conference Center in Frisco, CO May 31st - June 2nd. Additionally, for those interested in presenting at the conference, the 2023. The Call for Innovative Submissions is now LIVE!  Please note that both virtual and in-person presentation options are available. Submissions can be made here, and will close Tuesday, February 28th, at 5pm MT. Read the Save the Date flyer for more information.