Adams County proclaims September Suicide Prevention Month; officials highlight safe-storage and crisis-response efforts

At its Sept. 23 meeting the Adams County Board of County Commissioners proclaimed September 2025 as Suicide Prevention Month and heard public-health and public-safety officials describe ongoing prevention work and recent trends.

County Health Department Director Dr. Kelly Weidenbach told commissioners that 105 Adams County residents died by suicide in 2024, yielding an age-adjusted rate of 18.82 per 100,000, and that 41 percent of those deaths involved firearms. "Suicide is not the result of one single factor," Weidenbach said, adding that prevention requires strengthening protective factors such as strong relationships and access to care.

Weidenbach described several county actions and investments: expanding mental health first-aid trainings for residents, advancing safe-storage initiatives that help families temporarily remove firearms during crises, deploying funding to support local prevention programs (including UCHealth’s Zero Suicide Initiative), and convening community events to build connections.

District Attorney Bridal Mason emphasized the role of firearms in suicide deaths and urged awareness. "Nearly everyone in this room…has been touched some way by suicide," Mason said, and called for community attention to resources and support.

Sheriff Jean Claps said the sheriff’s office and county partners have added co-responder programs and are working on behavioral-health infrastructure including a detox and crisis center. Claps credited coordinated efforts among the health department, the sheriff’s office and the DA’s office for expanding immediate response capacity across municipalities.

Commissioners acknowledged the county’s cross-agency work. Commissioner Julie Duran Mullica and Commissioner Pinter praised the expansion of co-responder programs and cited partnerships with school districts and community organizations. Commissioners noted recent county events focused on community resilience and asked residents to use available statewide resources such as the I MATTER program for youth.

The proclamation, prepared by the county’s Office of Strategic Partnerships and Resilient Communities (SPARK), was signed by all five commissioners and entered the record at the meeting. County leaders and law-enforcement officials posed for a photograph following remarks.

No vote count was recorded for the proclamation in the transcript; the proclamation text and signatures were announced by county staff and read into the record.