Stanislaus County supervisors approve 3-year initiative to reduce suicide rate

Stanislaus County supervisors approved a plan Tuesday for dealing with an increase in suicides.

The county hopes to get different sectors of the community involved with the three-year suicide prevention and intervention project. The plan requires approval from a state oversight commission under the Mental Health Services Act.

There was a 27 percent increase in local suicides from 2010 through 2014. The county’s suicide rate of 11 per 100,000 population is higher than the statewide rate of 10.2 per 100,000.

“I think it’s a topic that people don’t like to discuss in our society,” Supervisor Bill O’Brien said. “Just by discussing it, I think we will have results.”

County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services wants to coordinate the suicide prevention efforts of local agencies, community organizations, nonprofit groups and schools.

Madelyn Schlaepfer, director of BHRS, said that in a large percentage of the 231 deaths over five years, the individuals had not had contact with mental health providers.

She noted that 75 percent had seen a primary care physician in the previous year and 45 percent had talked with a physician within a month of their death. The initiative will encourage involvement from the medical community, faith-based organizations, schools, neighborhoods, nonprofit groups and families to come up with ways to prevent suicides.

Schlaepfer said that better data is needed to show which age groups are most affected by the trend. The initiative also will focus on the methods, such as opioid overdoses, so that prevention strategies can be developed.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 9:25 PM with the headline "Stanislaus County supervisors approve 3-year initiative to reduce suicide rate."