Alison Kerr, Director of Community Health for Department of Health Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about suicide prevention.
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
Kerr said, “Suicide prevention is something that the health department highly observes, especially because our agency is all about prevention. Our mantra is all about prevention. Several organizations do observe Suicide Prevention Month, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Florida Department of Health has this particular topic as one of our priorities in our community health improvement plan. So this year, the theme is called, Start a Conversation and Be the Difference. So that’s one of the things that we’re trying to encourage is for anyone who, essentially observes a family or a friend or even an acquaintance looking like they may be going through some things in their life, changes in their normal personality and other issues that you may question, it’s always highly encouraged to just start a conversation, because you can certainly make a difference.”
Dialing 988 is available at any time.
Kerr said, “That number 988, is the mental health crisis line, but if somebody is in immediate danger of suicide, certainly call 911. That’s the first one to go through. 988 is also another really helpful one that’s essentially easy to remember, such as 911 is and then also, obviously, seeking a mental health professional. We do have a local provider that does provide mental health services here in the Florida Keys, the Guidance Care Center they do work to address depression and the number of suicides here in Monroe County. The mobile unit crisis hotline that’s available 24/7, and you can reach the Guidance Care Center at 305-434-7660 and then press option 8. So again, 305-434-7660, option 8. That’s the Guidance Care Center’s local hotline.”
The Community Health Improvement Plan has three priority areas.
Kerr said, “One of them being mental health and substance abuse and within the mental health and substance abuse health priority area for our agency at the health department is that we’re trying to by December 2029 decrease the annual rate of suicide deaths by 10%. So we’re trying to hopefully reach a decrease by 10% from 31.6 per 100,000 population down to 28.4%. That’s a 10% decrease, essentially. One of the reasons that we want to do this, primarily, too, is when we observed a spike in suicides that we have seen, we did a study back in 2019. I know it’s a couple years after Irma, but we did see a spike in suicide deaths in 2018 and that was obviously after Irma. We observed an increase in suicide deaths at that point, and it looked like a lot of the individuals who did indicate in the survey when they did a county wide survey between Key West and Key Largo for this community assessment for public health emergency response, in partnership with the CDC, several people indicated issues with regard to rent and affording to live down here. So we always want to try to encourage residents to seek help, not just your friends and family, but also any services that could be provided down here, for any assistance that they could obtain.”
The Department of Health also launched a website last year that is devoted to free mental health and wellbeing resources. It’s keyshealthymind.org.
Kerr said, “This is something that we really want to invest in and trying to get more residents to be aware of this particular website, keyshealthymind.org, it is available 24/7 and it is completely anonymous and 100% free. It is also available in not just English, but also Haitian, Creole and Spanish, and it offers thousands of resources, like articles, podcasts, videos, exercises as well. It covers over 200 topics and includes things like stress management, mindfulness, sleep improvement. It has issues that could be addressed, like domestic violence and then bullying as well. There’s also suicide as a topic as well. So anyone who’s interested, you can take assessments on this website. It’s very user friendly and highly encouraged.”
What can you do to help someone you’re worried about?
Kerr said, “If you do have any friends or relatives or even acquaintances that you’re noticing signs of withdrawal or hopelessness, they could even be making threats, like indicating that they want to kill themselves, or if you’ve noticed them, social isolation is another piece to remember. They could have dramatic mood swings. Another thing to do is essentially listen with care, don’t judge and be present. So really, just ask them. How are you feeling? If you have feelings, just ask them. You can even ask them directly, are you thinking about killing yourself? Because it does indicate, research shows that just the simple fact of just bringing up that question, it shows a reduction in ideation for suicide. So it’s also just very important to be direct and also be very proactive with them, acknowledge that their feelings are legitimate, and try to empathize with them. You can ask them questions like, I may not know exactly what you’re feeling or the pain that you’re experiencing, but just want to try to understand and try and encourage them to focus on getting through today. Let them know that with life, things could be complicated into the future, but try to encourage them to get through the day, day by day.”
There are some trainings available as well like Question, Persuade, Refer – QPR suicide prevention trainings.
Kerr said, “That particular training, there are actually two coming up. One is actually going to be this Friday, September 5 from 2 to 3pm at the Key Largo Public Library. Then there’s another one taking place on September 13. That’s a Saturday from 10 to 11:30 in Tavernier. It’s at the Coral Isles Church in Tavernier. Another thing to remember is to always just stay in touch with the person that you’ve been speaking with. You can call, text them that they are not alone, let them know that a safety plan could be made as well, because that’s essentially would be the final step, and the final step would essentially be seeking a professional or even emergency help. So just trying to emphasize that piece is to just stay in touch with them and follow up.”
For more information, click here: https://monroe.floridahealth.gov/