Suicide Prevention
- April 25, 2018
"Zero Suicide Project Implemented"
- UOFL Depression Center Begins to Implement Suicide Risk Reduction Strategies
The University of Louisville Depression Center has begun to implement quality improvement efforts focused on suicide prevention at the University of Louisville Hospital and Norton Hospital inpatient psychiatry units. The primary aims of these efforts are to systematize the use of screening, assessment, and treatment strategies to address suicide risk in the patients treated in an acute care setting, and to enhance the continuity of care for with healthcare providers in the community. This work is especially important because the risk for suicide has been shown to be 100 times greater than the general population in the first 3 months for all patients who are discharged following hospitalization, and even higher for those who are hospitalized for concerns related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. In an effort to ensure that the changes to standard of care are maintained over time, a rigorous approach to training and surveillance of suicide risk reduction strategies is being developed. Implementation of our inpatient psychiatry programming is in line with the efforts of other healthcare organizations in Louisville to implement what is known as Zero Suicide, a policy approach that emphasizes comprehensive reforms to prioritize suicide prevention.
In addition to our work in the inpatient psychiatry setting, we are also developing ways to support suicide attempt survivors and family members, and signifi-cant others following hospital discharge. Drs. Stephen O’Connor and Laura Frey are collaborating on a project to combine aspects of the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality to help patients and family members and significant others move forward together after a suicide attempt. Thirty patients and family members and significant others will be recruited over the next year for the research study, which will involve 8-12 weeks of therapy and follow-up assessments of clinical symptoms at 1- and 3-months post-hospitalization.
- Stephen S. O’Connor, PhD, Assistant Professor, UofL Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
- May 23, 2017
"Zero Suicide Project"
- Partnership with Humana Bold Moves Against Suicide
The Zero Suicide project is coming to Louisville. Based on successful programs in other communities, such as initiatives at the Henry Ford Hospital system in Detroit, the Humana Bold Moves Against Suicide project is working with community partners, including the University of Louisville Depression Center, to use effective measures to save lives. Drs. O’Connor and Wright from the UofL Depression Center are leading the Zero Suicide project at the UofL and are working with others to coordinate a community-wide effort.
A Suicide Prevention Summit, held in November 2016, was successful in engaging a large number of organizations and helping participants learn key principles of suicide risk reduction. The Zero Suicide framework includes improvements in identifying and assessing suicidal individuals, providing evidence-supported treatments, ensuring smooth transitions of care, and improving data collection to promote quality improvements over time.
At the UofL Depression Center, Dr. O’Connor is collaborating with directors of inpatient units, Emergency Psychiatric Services, and consultation-liaison psychiatry to develop a systematic implementation of Zero Suicide methods. With funding from an anonymous donor, the Center will soon embark on a quality improvement initiative to make the Zero Suicide program a part of routine clinical care.
- Stephen S. O’Connor, PhD, Assistant Professor, UofL Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
- January 30, 2017
"Teachable Moment Brief Intervention"
- Partnership with Vanderbilt University Medical Center
The goal of Dr. O'Connor's research study is to establish the acceptability and feasibility of a brief intervention delivered to patients who are medically hospitalized following a serious suicide attempt. The intervention is called the "Teachable Moment Brief Intervention" which aims to help reduce suicide risk following return to the community by increasing the following factors: motivation to engage in outpatient treatment, insight into factors underlying the suicide attempt and suicidal ideation, reasons for living, and social connectedness. The intervention takes ~45 minutes to complete and was found to significantly increase both motivation to engage in outpatient treatment and reasons for living in a previous study (see O'Connor et al. (2015) The development and implementation of a brief intervention for medically admitted suicide attempt survivors, General Hospital Psychiatry, 37(5), 427-433).
In the current study at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 69 patients have been recruited and 6 separate Vanderbilt clinicians have delivered the intervention. We have completed our 1 and 3 month follow-up interviews and are in the process of completing the 12 month interviews at this time. We look forward to sharing our results with the community after data collection is complete.
- November 21, 2016
Recent Summit kick-starts suicide prevention program
UofL Depression Center members Stephen O’Connor and Jesse Wright are part of the Humana-sponsored Bold Goals Against Suicide workgroup that aims to reduce the rate of suicide in Louisville. The first ever Bold Goals Against Suicide Summit was held at Spalding University on November 9 and 10 and kick-started efforts to dramatically improve implementation of suicide prevention strategies throughout the city.
About the Summit and Study
The intent of the Summit was to bring together a variety of stakeholders who impact health care delivery throughout Louisville. There was policy discussion and learning about the vision of the Bold Goals Against Suicide effort. Speakers included Becky Stoll, LCSW, Vice-President of Crisis and Disaster Management at Centerstone and a champion of the Zero Suicide in Health and Behavioral Health Care initiative. Given the recent affiliation between Centerstone and Seven Counties, Becky was a natural fit to speak to the audience of policy makers, administrators, clinicians, and other summit attendees. Kevin Hines, a suicide prevention and mental health advocate, storyteller, and filmmaker gave an honest and brave message about his own experience as a suicide attempt survivor, having survived a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge, featured in the documentary, The Bridge.
November 9, Becky Stoll, Kevin Hines, Kelly Gannon, MBA, LCSW, (Seven Counties Chief Operating Officer), and Dr. O’Connor provided training in an aspect of the Zero Suicide in Health and Behavioral Health Care initiative. Dr. O’Connor’s focus was on the implementation of screening and assessment approaches for suicide prevention that can be applied in a variety of real-world clinical settings. There was all-day training in Mental Health First Aid, which is a set of skills in mental health management that can be applied with relative ease and provides a foundation for employees to support the zero suicide efforts within their organizations.
At UofL, Drs. O’Connor and Wright are working with other faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to begin implementing many of the clinical practices included in the Zero Suicide in Health and Behavioral Health initiative. UofL faculty interact with patients in a variety of settings; our goal is to standardize the use of empirically-supported approaches to screening, assessment, and intervention while utilizing the talent and experience of the clinicians working in each unique setting. By raising the standard of care for suicide prevention across our medical campus, we will help contribute to the larger Bold Goals Against Suicide efforts, as well as meet the raised expectations for suicide prevention recently mandated by The Joint Commission.