Zero Suicide, considered an aspirational goal and strategy of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, and Suicide Prevention Resource Center, calls for a paradigm shift and commitment to reducing the number of suicides of those served by behavioral health and health systems in our state to ZERO. That requires focused attention and leadership commitment to address the 7 elements of Zero Suicide.
- LEAD a system-wide change to create a workforce culture aimed to reduce suicide.
- TRAIN a competent, confident, and caring workforce.
- IDENTIFY individuals with suicide risk via comprehensive screening and assessment.
- ENGAGE individuals at-risk of suicide using a suicide care management plan.
- TREAT suicidal thoughts and behaviors using evidence-based treatments.
- TRANSITION individuals through care with warm hand-offs and supportive contacts.
- IMPROVE policies and procedures through continuous quality improvement.
The Florida Launch Engage Activate Departments and Systems for Zero Suicide (LEADS) Project invites you to participate in a statewide Zero Suicide learning collaborative aimed at assessing the quality of suicide care, educating on suicide best practices, and sharing successful programs and lessons learned from within our state. The learning collaborative will bring together subject matter experts and agency leadership from various disciplines to discuss and strategize on screening, assessment, intervention, treatment, transitions, training, evaluation, and quality improvement.
Based on a needs assessment obtained through live-polling of over 100 behavioral health leaders at Florida Behavioral Health Association’s BH Con in August 2023, and subsequent survey of additional leaders not able to attend, the following needs were identified and developed into a 2024 agenda of bi-monthly topics.
| Date | Element | Session Topic |
| January | LEAD | Commitment to Change: WHY, launch strategies, just culture |
| March | LEAD | Community Change: Lessons learned from established community ZS Coalitions |
| May | TRAIN | Workforce Development: Assess staff confidence/skills to design training and support |
| July | TREAT | Targeted Suicide Treatments: Evidence-based therapies, considerations for implementation |
| September | TRANSITION | Care Transition: Care coordination and follow-up models, program outcomes, funding strategies |
| December | IMPROVE | Quality Improvement: Fidelity to suicide care policies, data and monitoring, suicide debriefing |