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Board proclaims September as Suicide Prevention Month, underscores expanded behavioral-health capacity
Summary
Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga presented a proclamation recognizing Suicide Prevention Month, highlighted expansion of behavioral health beds and promoted the county's 988 crisis lifeline and mobile crisis response teams.
Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga presented a proclamation recognizing September as Suicide Prevention Month in Santa Clara County and used the occasion to emphasize recent county investments in behavioral-health capacity and the county’s suicide-prevention efforts.
Abe-Koga discussed youth mental-health concerns, cited recent local tragedies and noted demographic shifts in suicide patterns reported between 2021 and 2023: a decrease in the percentage of male suicides and a consecutive increase in the percentage of female suicides (as described in the presentation). She urged gender-informed prevention approaches and highlighted county resources including the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline and community mobile response teams. The supervisor said the county has added 226 behavioral-health treatment beds since July 2022 and is on track to exceed its 2030 goal of 530 beds, potentially reaching 586.
Abe-Koga introduced Vic Ojakian, a longtime mental-health advocate and co-chair of the county suicide prevention oversight committee, who accepted the proclamation on behalf of prevention volunteers and county behavioral-health staff. Ojakian urged community involvement in suicide-prevention efforts and framed the proclamation as part of a broader awareness and stigma-reduction effort.
