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NEWS FROM
THE INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH
November 21, 2008
City of Somerville Reflects on Success of Community Response
to Youth Suicide Crisis
Somerville, MA…The Institute for Community Health at Cambridge
Health Alliance announced today that a leading journal on suicide
prevention has published an article documenting the success of the
City of Somerville's collaborative response to a youth suicide epidemic.
The article, titled "Coping with Youth Suicide and Overdose:
One Community's Efforts to Investigate, Intervene, and Prevent Suicide
Contagion" recently appeared in Crisis - The Journal of Crisis
Intervention and Suicide Prevention.
"Between 2000 and 2005, our city lost 21 young people to suicide,"
said Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. "The Somerville
community recognized the need to come together to solve the suicide
epidemic, and as a result, a collaboration of Somerville youth,
parents, teachers, elected officials, experts and other community
members set out to do so. Today we celebrate the very real results
of that collaboration: we have not had a single youth suicide since
2005. I can't think of a more important cause to mobilize as a community
than the health, safety, and futures of our young people. I applaud
the members of our community who continue to work diligently to
prevent future suicides, and I hope that our success will inspire
similar action in other communities dealing with similar tragedies."
Karen Hacker, MD, MPH, executive director of the Institute for
Community Health (ICH) and lead author of the study, noted that
community activism was an important component of the citywide response.
"In a truly participatory manner, community members used data
to understand what was occurring, and this helped them design and
implement supportive activities," said Dr. Hacker.
Mayor Curtatone established a Task Force on Suicide and Mental
Health that included representatives from ICH (Dr. Hacker is co-chair)
and Somerville Cares About Prevention. These partners worked together
to develop strategies, launch programs, and provide support for
affected families. The Task Force undertook various initiatives
in response to the crisis, including building a Trauma Response
Network, hiring a mental health professional in the City's Health
Department, connecting the schools with mental health agencies,
offering enhanced support for youth development activities, and
hosting opiate speak-out forums.
"We were losing good kids from good families to a bad disease.
I'm just glad Somerville is tough enough to fight back," said
Danny McLaughlin, co-founder of the community group Save Our Somerville
(SOS).
The Task Force continues to meet on a regularly basis to develop
programs and policies aimed at suicide prevention.
"Somerville is fortunate to have a community of adults and
professionals willing to dedicate time and energy to ensure that
all of our youth have the opportunity and support needed to succeed,"
said Patricia Contente, Clinical Youth Specialist for the Somerville
Health Department. "The goal of the Task Force this year will
be to raise awareness around issues of depression and to develop
additional community partnerships to foster connections with youth."
For more information on the Mayor's Task Force on Suicide and Mental
Health please contact Patricia Contente at 617-625-6600 ext. 4325.
The Institute for Community Health (ICH) is a unique collaboration
of three Massachusetts health care systems to improve the health
of Cambridge, Somerville, and surrounding cities and towns. Founding
members are Cambridge Health Alliance, the Mount Auburn Hospital
of CareGroup, and the Massachusetts General Hospital of Partners
HealthCare. ICH stimulates the creation of innovative programs and
health policies through a community-based approach that promotes
long-term healthy lifestyles. For more information, visit www.icommunityhealth.org.
"Coping with Youth Suicide and Overdose: One Community's Efforts
to Investigate, Intervene, and Prevent Suicide Contagion" published
by CRISIS. Vol. 29(2): 86-95. Authors: Karen Hacker, Jessica Collins,
Leni Gross-Young, Stephanie Almeida, and Noreen Burke.
For a copy of the article, please contact David Cecere at Cambridge
Health Alliance: 617-503-8428 or dcecere@challiance.org.
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Media Contact
David Cecere
Media Relations Manager
Phone: 617-503-8428
Cell: 617-921-9613
Pager: 617-546-1879
dcecere@challiance.org
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