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North Carolina State Suicide Prevention Information

• Contact Information
• Recent Developments
• State Events
• History of State Suicide Prevention Efforts
• State and Local Prevention Resources
• Legislation/Resolutions
• Funding Sources

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North Carolina Contact Information:

Please click on contact information to view the person(s) taking the lead in suicide prevention planning efforts in all of the states or territories.

Recent Developments:

• 2008 – North Carolina was awarded the Garrett Lee Smith grant in September 2008. The grant of $1.3 million will be over a three year period. It will operate from September 30, 2008- September 29, 2011.
  
  The grant will include three interlinked approaches:
  • Communications Campaign
    • Objectives:  Increase help seeking behavior, and reduce suicidal behavior of youth.
      • -Develop appropriate messages for 10-24 year old population.
      • -Include media that are widely used by 10-24 year-olds focusing on electronic and web-based media.
      • -Include media that can be used in schools.
      • -Use social marketing tools to identify other community-based channels of communications.
  • Gatekeeper Training
    • Objective:  Increase the access to appropriate training resources for gatekeepers.
      • Provide ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) T4T training for trainers from the North Carolina School Health Training Center and individuals from the community.
      • Provide safeTALK T4T training to increase the number of safeTALK trainers.
    • Objective: Increase the skills of adults who work with youth to recognize warning signs and respond appropriately when youth are at risk of suicidal behavior.
      • Provide ASIST training for school-based health center personnel and safeTALK training school personnel in participating schools.
      • Provide ASIST and safeTALK training for other school and community based groups upon request.
  • Community Based Programs
    • Objective: Increase the capacity of schools and their health centers to provide early intervention to youth at risk of suicidal behavior and to make successful community referrals and monitor outcomes.
      • Implement through school-based and school-linked health centers with selection by a competitive application process.
      • Increase helping skills of school personnel through ASIST and safeTALK training.
      • Encourage help-seeking behavior of students using media campaign materials.
      • Increase the number of parents who permit their children to receive services through the health centers
  
  
  
• 2008 – The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health's Injury and Violence Prevention Branch submitted and application for the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act on January 11, 2008, on behalf of the NC Youth Suicide Prevention Task Force.
  
  
• 2007 – Three major metropolitan areas worked in conjunction with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to hold "Out of Darkness" walks in their respective communities. In Winston-Salem, 195 walkers raised $11,000; In Chapel Hill-Carrboro, 150 walkers raised $11,000; In Charlotte, 188 walkers will be walking in 2008.
  
  

State Events:

Visit the SPRC Calendar of Events for more details on all state and national events. If you would like to add a particular event, please take a moment to fill out our online Add Your Event form.

State and Local Prevention Resources:

Organizations

Materials

• Suicide in North Carolina: Deaths, Hospitalizations, and Youth Survey Results
  
  
• Saving Tomorrows Today – Please see data and resource section
  
  

Legislation/Resolutions:

• 2007 – On July 12, 2007, North Carolina General Assembly passed a mental health parity bill. The final House vote was 114-2. The bill proceeded to the Governor for his signature.
  
  About House Bill 973:
  1. HB 973 covers all group plans.
  2. HB 973 covers 9 diagnoses at full parity – bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, paranoid and other psychotic disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, anorexia nervosa and bulimia.
  3. HB 973 covers all other mental illness diagnoses at financial parity – meaning deductibles, coinsurance factors, co-payments, maximum out-of pocket as well as annual and lifetime limits must be the same as for physical illnesses.
  4. Mental illness diagnoses not included in the 9 listed above may have different durational limits, but the minimum benefit required must provide for:
  Thirty (30) combined inpatient and outpatient days per year and
  Thirty (30) office visits per year
  5. The law becomes effective July 1, 2008.
  
  

Funding Sources:

• 2008 – Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act grant of of $1.3 million over a three year period.
  
  
• 2002 – 2004 - Two-year funding for $82,000 from the Governor's Crime Commission
  
  

For assistance, please contact your SPRC Prevention Specialist, Elana Premack Sandler, by email at epsandler@edc.org or telephone at 617-618-2850.

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