Senate Mental Health Chairman Praises Suicide Prevention Awareness Report

Senator Thomas P. Morahan, Chairman of the New York State Senate Committee onMental Health and Developmental Disabilities, today praised the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) Commissioner for her agency’s work in producing the recently completed three volume report entitled:"Saving Lives in New York: Suicide Prevention and Public Health."

The comprehensive, data-driven report on suicide, its risks and prevention, is available online at:http://www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/savinglives. It was prepared by researchers at OMH, Columbia University/ New York State Psychiatric Institute, the University of Rochester and the New York State Suicide Prevention Council.

"Dr. Sharon E. Carpinello, OMH Commissioner, and her agency have made great progress in raising public awareness about suicide risks and warning signs; first through suicide prevention, education and awareness programs and initiatives, and now, through Saving Lives in NY, a report which can be accessed online by interested stakeholders," said the Senator.

The report’s three volumes outline a suicide prevention strategy with two primary components: diagnose and effectively treat those who have a psychiatric condition that puts them at high risk to end their own life; and use community resources, family and friends to engage individuals who harbor risk factors for suicide well before they become a danger to themselves.

More people die from suicides than from homicides in the United States every year. It is now the eleventh leading cause of death for all Americans, and the third cause of death for young people, aged 15-24. In addition, 90 percent of suicide victims have a diagnosable mental illness and/or substance abuse disorder.

Volume One includes an Executive Summary of the full report, a public health strategy for suicide prevention across New York State, and a plan for suicide prevention and public health in New York City. Volume One also includes recommendations and action steps that are designed to: improve access to mental health care and services; enhance identification of those at risk; restrict access to means of self-harm; and expand the knowledge base through research.

Volume Two includes authored chapters that examine specific approaches to suicide prevention, and also review specific needs of identified populations. When viewed together, the chapters of Volume Two illustrate that the risk factors contributing to suicide are unevenly distributed across the population, and that protective factors need to be enhanced to maintain a favorable balance for anyone at risk of suicide. The result is an integrated prevention strategy because most suicides involve complex causes, and no single intervention can serve as a panacea for all those at risk. The recommendations and action steps outlined in Volume One are extrapolated from the information contained in the chapters of Volume Two.

Volume Three of the report is a data book of statewide and county-specific information about suicide that is gathered and maintained by the New York State Department of Health.

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