Newport Mental Health to create COVID-19 suicide prevention program thanks to federal grant – News – providencejournal.com
“With the confluence of the pandemic, layoffs, racial inequity, and an election year, we’re facing…
“With the confluence of the pandemic, layoffs, racial inequity, and an election year, we’re facing tremendous uncertainty, which unfortunately also gives rise to serious behavioral issues and suicide,” Newport Mental Health president and CEO Jamie Lehane said in announcing the $800,000 grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration.
NEWPORT — A federal grant will allow Newport Mental Health to establish a COVID-19 Emergency Suicide Prevention program for residents of Aquidneck Island.
Although suicide statistics since the beginning of the pandemic are incomplete, most mental-health experts expect to see a rise in attempts and fatalities without aggressive intervention.
“With the confluence of the pandemic, layoffs, racial inequity, and an election year, we’re facing tremendous uncertainty, which unfortunately also gives rise to serious behavioral issues and suicide,” Newport Mental Health president and CEO Jamie Lehane said in announcing the $800,000 grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration.
The multi-year grant, combined with funding from the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, will help Newport Hospital, East Bay Community Action Program, the Women’s Resource Center, CODAC Behavioral Healthcare and other agencies to “deliver uniform suicide care among different healthcare systems,” Lehane said in a media release.
This approach, said Dan Wartenberg, Newport Mental Health’s Clinical Officer and head of the new COVID-19 suicide prevention program, will help “close gaps, provide specific interventions for suicide, greater intensity of care and client involvement during high risk periods.”
Citing statistics from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the agency said “Newport County has the highest suicide rate in the state and one that is higher than the national rate. Newport County has a suicide rate of 14.4 per 100,000 individuals compared to the national rate of 13.42 per 100,000.”
The new initiative will involve No Wrong Door, a coalition of organizations involved with behavioral health on Aquidneck Island.
“The suicide prevention program along with No Wrong Door is the first time we’ll be able to provide seamless treatment for the area. It’s a first in Newport County,” said Newport County Prevention Coalition head Rebecca Elwell, who leads No Wrong Door.
