September is National Suicide Awareness Month

September is National Suicide Awareness Month, and your Local Mental Health Authority wants the people of Falls county--  as well as McLennan, Bosque, Limestone, Freestone, and Hill counties to know it is taking the lead in not only reducing people dying by suicide but getting to zero suicides.

This is why the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network, formerly Heart of Texas Region MHMR Center, has made its Zero Suicide Initiative a high priority—in the short and long-term.

The agency’s Executive Director, Daniel Thompson, says well-known celebrities such as Naomi Judd and former Miss USA Chelsie Kryst, who both died by suicide recently, only stresses the need of the Zero Suicide Initiative locally.

The statistics from the Texas Suicide Prevention Collaborative’s “AS+K Training” (Ask the question, Seek support, and Know when and how to refer for additional help) also point to a great need. The Collaborative says data, compiled in 2019, say that in 2018, Texas experienced almost 3,900 suicide deaths, and close to 2-and-a-half times more Texans died by suicide than by homicide. Plus, nearly 1-in-5 high school students in Texas had serious thoughts about suicide in that calendar year.

The data, and there are more than what was detailed above, all point to the need of suicide prevention strategies. The Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network’s Zero Suicide Initiative helps fill that need.

While the Zero Suicide Initiative continues to be crafted and implemented by the Workgroup, the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network has current resources available for any person in our six-county region who may be having suicide ideation—or any mental health crisis situation that needs immediate help. The agency’s Crisis Services Hotline is available 24-hours-a-day,

365-days-a year with a toll-free call at (866) 752-3451. Nationally, the Suicide Lifeline is available by dialing 9-8-8.