A new grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will help Centerstone expand the Zero Suicide Initiative to southern Illinois.
Centerstone has already been using the Zero Suicide Initiative procedures in Tennessee and will use money to expand the program. The focus of the program is updating procedures and technology to help mental health professionals when treating patients who are at risk for suicide.
Vice President of Crisis and Disaster Management Becky Stoll said a big focus of the initiative is treating suicide as a distinct mental health issue, not just a symptom of other underlying mental illnesses. She said the procedures they’ve developed will help clinicians identify at-risk patients and focus on them across service areas.
“That allows us to get you specialized care while you're at this fragile time, and so it should feel very different, very collaborative,” Stoll said. “And then we put little things in place that shift on our operational Thought that help us with all of this.
The grant lasts for five years. Stoll said Centerstone hopes to have the initiative up and running in southern Illinois by this fall.
