VOICES OF JOY November/December 2021
provides holistic approach to child safety. Shea Hutchins, Chief Solutions Officer
While the world is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, there is another silent pandemic occurring. It has been happening for years and Canopy, as the leading behavioral health organization for children in Mississippi, plays a key role in preventing this pandemic. The pandemic is suicide. According to the CDC, suicide is now the second leading cause of death among youths aged 10-24, with the fastestgrowing rates among youth ages 10–14. In recent years, Canopy leadership has noticed through our own data an increase in suicide attempts and ideation. With our value of “Our families and community deserve our very best,” we began to question, are we giving the VERY best when it comes to suicide prevention and treatment? In the guise of continuous quality improvement we know we can always improve! This led us to search for what is the very best? What we found was Zero Suicide. The Zero Suicide framework was born from a public health approach to suicide. The Zero Suicide framework is defined by a system-wide, organizational commitment to safer suicide care in health and behavioral health care systems. It represents a culture shift away from fragmented suicide care toward a holistic and comprehensive approach to youth or child safety- the most fundamental responsibility of health care.
The seven elements of Zero Suicide are lead, train, identify, engage, treat, transition, and improve. After attending the Zero Suicide Academy in September, Canopy has formed a Zero Suicide Task Force who will begin working through the 7 elements with the help of every Canopy employee. We are excited to announce the members of Canopy’s Zero Suicide Task Force: 1. Joanna Chandler 2. Kayla Erickson 3. Marcus Ginn 4. Erica Griffin 5. Marissa Johnson 6. Alesha McQuarters 7. Shannon Prince Consulting: Shea Hutchins, Christian Ware Zero suicide is an aspirational goal. There are no guarantees that we will never experience a death by suicide under the Canopy. What our staff will be confident of is we have given our very best in every aspect, from staff training to assessment and treatment.