Volume 13| July 23, 2020
Your Weekly News & Updates
Our focus in this issue is on suicide risk and prevention efforts.

Please share!
Contact Dawn Fawcett- admin@wctcoalition.org
to be added to our email list.

Be well and stay safe.
COVID-19 Resources
Helpful Thinking During COVID-19
From the National Center for PTSD (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs)

During the COVID-19 outbreak, you might have concerns about safety, feeling unable to cope, helplessness, guilt and anger. While it is understandable to feel this way, focusing on such negative feelings can make coping even more difficult. You may find it useful to become more aware of unhelpful thoughts and consider focusing on more helpful thoughts.
Use this table to identify thoughts you might be having now, and helpful thoughts you can try instead. Then, it's important to practice using more helpful thoughts as often as you can.
For more Helpful Thinking , click here
Recently shared on social media
Regional Opioid Prevention Policy Workgroup Update
Suicide and Opioid Use Disorder
A study done at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, stressed the importance of raising clinician awareness about "internal and external conditions, very proximal to self-injury deaths” for suicide prevention in opioid use disorder.

Experts have identified the following “imminent” risk factors for a fatal outcome in patients with substance use disorders:

1. The presence of acute withdrawal or craving
2. Changes in patterns of use
3. Loss of agency, identity, or sense of belonging and the erosion of social supports, dysphoria, shame, humiliation, or  insomnia
4. Increased use of other substances
5. Recent personal events, such as relapse, legal problems, or relationship conflict

(from Psychiatry Advisor)
Drug Free Schools Committee
Resources for Parents and Families
Gizmo’s Pawesome Guide to Mental Health is a great free resource to help you and your kids with your sad, mad and worried feelings during this tough time.

Visit www.preventsuicidect.org to order a copy! It is available in English or Spanish

"We used Gizmo's Pawesome Guide to Mental Health during our summer visits to Camp Cochipianee in Goshen. The kids ranging from first to sixth grade all loved it! The book does an excellent job pointing out that taking care of our 'brain health' is just as important as our physical health. It empowers the reader to come up with their own plan for identifying difficult feelings, strategies for healthy coping, and having a trusted adult in their life."
- Kathy Hanley, Behavioral Health Director, Western CT Coalition
Grief and Support Resources:

Survivors of Suicide

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention www.afsp.org
2 support groups for survivors of suicide loss
Personal support for survivors of suicide loss
 
Healing Hearts Center for Grief and Loss
 
Grief Recovery
Mental Health
Region 5 Suicide Advisory Board Update
The Region 5 Suicide Advisory Board meets quarterly. The next meeting is September 23rd at 10:00 a.m. For more information contact The Western CT Coalition at 203-743-7741. Please join us!
Join the world’s largest online suicide prevention conference for mental health professionals.
Click here for more information and registration link.
This conference is being offered at no cost!

If you’re feeling alone and struggling, you can reach out the CrisisText Line by texting CT to 741-741 or
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-TALK.
Prevention
Did you know?

According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, 424 people died by suicide in the state of Connecticut in 2019.
188 of those deaths involved a firearm.
To order One Word, One Voice, One Life suicide prevention campaign materials visit www.preventsuicidect.org
Problem Gambling Awareness
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