LETHAL MEANS SAFETY AND SAFETY PLANNING
The third priority area for team Utah is lethal mean safety and safety planning. Suicide prevention efforts must consists of more than changing behaviors such as interventions and seeking help. Changing the environment can be an important and necessary prevention step in many situations. Service members, Veterans and their families have easier access to lethal means—primarily firearms—than the general population. Understanding the risks, safety options, and crisis response when it comes to firearms can be the difference that saves a life.
Goals
- Increase comfort and capacity of community partners to provide education and training on lethal means safety and best practice to SMVF they serve
- Increase comfort and capacity of health and behavior health care providers to provide education and training on lethal means safety and best practice to SMVF they serve
- Increase likelihood of SMVF who are willing to commit to safely storing their firearms by increasing knowledge for safe storage options
Main Initiatives
- Develop and conduct "Ask the Question" trainings for care providers and crisis responders to identify SMVF
- Modify all post secondary application and registration processes to screen for SMVF
- Implement trainings (ie. PsychArmor) to increase Military Cultural Responsiveness to school-based mental health and primary care/community organizations
LEARN MORE & GET INVOLVED
Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM)
Reducing access to lethal means, such as firearms and medication, can determine whether a person at risk for suicide lives or dies. This course is about how to reduce access to the methods people use to kill themselves. It covers who needs lethal means counseling and how to work with people at risk for suicide—and their families—to reduce access. LEARN MORE
