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SAMHSA-Funded Population-Focused Resource Guides

SAMHSA and the Office of Behavioral Health Equity helped fund programs to develop population-specific suicide prevention resource guides. Several guides can be found below:

Improving Maternal Mental Health Outcomes: How Hospitals Can Support Maternal Mental Health

Suicide accounts for one in five postpartum deaths; one in five women experience a perinatal mental health condition; and over half of pregnant women with depression do not receive treatment, according to a new AHA infographic highlighting the grim statistics surrounding maternal mental health, five ways to improve maternal mental health outcomes and recommended resources for providers.

This document, developed by AHA Trustee Services and AHA’s Behavioral Health teams, intends to educate and raise awareness for trustees about suicide prevention and the role that hospital and health system boards can play in this very important public health issue. It also provides useful resources for boards to initiate a conversation about reducing the risks of and preventing suicides in the health care workforce.

Shining a Spotlight on Suicide as a Public Health Issue

AHA Chair Wright L. Lassiter III notes that throughout September, the AHA is shining a spotlight on suicide as a public health issue and working to ensure that people have access to the resources they need to discuss suicide prevention and seek treatment when needed.

Sue Ellen Wagner spoke with Cathy Frank, M.D., chair of Henry Ford Health’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Services, to learn about how the health system is addressing suicide prevention, a vital public health issue that governing boards should know more about.

The Role of Firearm Safety in Preventing Suicide

According to the CDC, firearms are used in approximately 50% of all suicides. In this podcast, Dr. Emmy Betz, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and director of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative joins Laura Castellanos, associate director, Hospitals Against Violence initiative at the ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ Association. Together they explore the connections between firearms and suicide, and what hospitals and healthcare systems need to know about firearm suicide prevention.