Suicide-prevention experts from area draft state strategy

By John Zaremba
Staff Writer

BATAVIA -- Local suicide-prevention workers are collaborating with state public health officials to form Illinois' first-ever suicide-prevention plan. Representatives from Batavia-based Suicide Prevention Services will work with state Health Department employees and other suicide experts across Illinois to draft the plan. State Rep. Patricia Reid Lindner, R-Sugar Grove, is taking part in the process. When published, the plan will be a resource for a wide range of people who encounter suicide or threats of suicide in their everyday work, including school and hospital officials, police and paramedics and addiction specialists. Too often, advocates say, people in those lines of work try to handle suicide-related situations without knowing much about mental illness or other contributing factors.

"We need to educate everybody," said Suicide Prevention Services board member Sherry Bryant, who is leading the effort. "The only way you make any progress in a public-health problem is to educate the public. You did it with cancer, you did it with polio."

Finally, she said, Illinois is doing something about suicide, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said is the third-leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 24 years old; is the second leading cause of death for 25 to 34 year olds; and is among the top 10 causes of death for all Americans 10 to 64 years of age.

After the release of the federal plan for suicide prevention in 2001, individual states began drafting suicide-prevention plans. Some are complete, while Illinois' plan is still in the drafting stage.

"As usual, many other states have done this and Illinois is behind," Bryant said.

She said she hopes the plan will give rise to legislation to allocate more state and federal money for suicide prevention initiatives.

About 80 people in all are expected to have some hand in the drafting of the plan, Bryant said. Currently, most of the people working to create it are suicide-prevention and public-health experts; Bryant said the committee needs more representatives from churches and law enforcement.

The Illinois Department of Public Health is acting as an intermediary in the process, trying to incorporate people from different areas of the state that might not normally be included.

Eight small groups meet once a week via conference calls, and there is a monthly in-person meeting, Bryant said.

Such an approach to creating a statewide strategy "is a very effective way to address public health concerns," said Mark Schmidt, the department's deputy director of public health.

Bryant expects the plan to be complete by the end of 2003.