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Marin County marks Suicide Prevention Awareness Month; board adopts proclamation
Summary
Health officials and educators presented county suicide-prevention efforts at the Board of Supervisors meeting; the board adopted a resolution recognizing Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and highlighted youth and older-adult outreach, training, and community partnerships.
Marin County health officials and educators on Tuesday outlined suicide-prevention work across schools, community organizations and county services and urged residents to use available crisis resources as the Board of Supervisors adopted a proclamation recognizing Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
Director of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Todd Shermer opened the presentation by describing the county's collaborative approach and some metrics of recent activity. "In the last 10 years, 363 members of our community died by suicide," Shermer said, and he noted ongoing local efforts including the Marin County Suicide Prevention Collaborative and a board-approved strategic plan launched in 2020.
Shermer emphasized county partnerships with community organizations such as the Marin County Office of Education and services created or expanded through the collaborative. He cited a LOSS (local outreach for survivors of suicide) team that has served over 200 individuals, a crisis aftercare team that has served about 170 county clients, and roughly 13,000 attendees at mental-health and suicide-prevention trainings.
Dr. Melanie Thompson, HHS deputy health officer, told the board that funding changes at the state level (including the passage of Prop 1, which shifts certain prevention responsibilities into behavioral health programs) create both challenges and new opportunities to sustain prevention and early-intervention services focused on eligible youth and transition-age youth.
Dr. Lisa Miller, assistant superintendent with the Marin County Office of Education, described school-based requirements and practices, including mandated annual suicide-prevention training for staff, instruction for secondary students about mental-health resources and 988, and a countywide, research-based risk-assessment protocol used by districts. She said the county and districts are expanding school-based staffing such as social workers and licensed counselors and providing warm handoffs to community providers outside school hours.
Public commenters who said they had lost family members to suicide urged greater attention to older adults and to continuing public education. Christie Denton Cohen, chair of the Marin Commission on Aging, told supervisors that older adults in Marin are particularly vulnerable and cited county data that, in recent years, showed an increasing share of suicides among residents 65 and older. Kate Soderstrom Ruley, who identified herself as a suicide-loss survivor and LOSS team volunteer, described cluster deaths among high school students in prior years and urged community education and direct, compassionate conversations with people in crisis.
The board had no further questions and moved to adopt the resolution recognizing Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Supervisor Milton Peters moved the resolution and Supervisor Rodoni seconded; the motion carried unanimously.
The presentation and board action highlighted the county's emphasis on prevention across ages, continuing education about the 988 crisis lifeline, and coordination among county public health, schools and community partners moving forward.
