Preventing Suicide During Catastrophic Events and Beyond: Colorado

In this video interview, Sarah Brummett, Office of Suicide Prevention Director, shares how Colorado’s state infrastructure for suicide prevention has allowed for focused attention on addressing the issue, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key learnings Sarah shares include:

- The CDC’s suicide prevention technical package can be used to cross-check local identified and prioritized strategies and make the case to partners that there is research backing specific prevention strategies.

- State government has an important role to play in braiding and blending funds to invest in local communities and support comprehensive suicide prevention across the prevention continuum, including upstream factors like community connectedness and economic stability.

- Dedicated staffing and strong community engagement before catastrophic events creates a safety net that can respond during catastrophic events like COVID-19.

- Suicide prevention practitioners do not need to become experts on upstream factors like economic stability, but rather build partnerships, coordinate, and amplify efforts to address issues like food security, affordable housing, access to quality and affordable childcare, livable wages, etc.

Learn more about the Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention: https://cdphe.colorado.gov/office-of-suicide-prevention

Prevention Institute's Suicide Prevention Modules: https://preventioninstitute.org/suicide-prevention/modules