Tag: Orban

Asked & Answered: 5 questions from the Providence Business News about Zero Suicide

Zero Suicide seeks to make taking one’s life a “never event” in South County.

The Providence Business News used its popular “5 Questions…” column to ask Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds Director Susan Orban to explain our new Zero Suicide effort.

SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) granted Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds $2 million over the next 5 years for a comprehensive effort to eliminate suicides in South County, which has the state’s highest suicide rate.

According to Orban, the focus will be on training key health care staff to identify and work with people with depression, and to offer mental health care to those who cannot afford it.

6 Youth and Adult Mental Health First Aid trainings scheduled, February-May

A training you should include with your CPR, lifesaving, and first aid background

You are just as likely to encounter someone in mental health crisis as one who needs CPR, if not more so, points out South County Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds (HBHM) Director Susan Orban.

“The statistics are daunting in South County,” she notes. “We have high rates of substance abuse from teens to elders. As many as one in three youths experience depression at least once every year. We have psychiatric hospitalizations and, sadly, suicides.”

In response, HBHM works with the international Mental Health First Aid organization to train parents, afterschool programmers, educators, camp counselors, juvenile police officers, and others in the curriculum for Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA).

Free of charge, the 8-hour training focuses on being aware of early signs of concern and how to provide immediate support until professional help can be secured.

HBHM offers a similar program for adults helping adults: Mental Health First Aid (MHFA).