The April meeting of the Jones County Suicide Prevention Coalition included good news about the 988 National Suicide and Crisis line that is due to roll out July 16.
According to the crisis line website, 911 began in the 1960s. It took 30 years to have 93 percent of the US population covered by 911, and it continues to evolve.
The Georgia Steering Committee has been working to make sure 988ga.org is also ready. 988 is expected to increase awareness of resources and hopefully result in a greater demand for the system.
“It will be a long road, but it will eventually lead us to a place where all Georgians have someone to call, someone to respond and somewhere to go in their time of need,” the website states.
Augusta University Senior Research Assistant Amy Szoka welcomed the attendees to the April 26 meeting, and Project Director Brandon Warrick updated the statistics.
Warrick talked about the outreach of the coalition’s Facebook page and Instagram and celebrated the passage of HB 1013, the Georgia Mental Health Parity Act that brings state law up to code with federal law requiring insurance companies to cover mental disorders like they do other medical conditions.
He also gave a marketing report. Warrick said the ads on the shopping carts at Ingles reach 17,500 people per week. He said there will be tabletop ads at Chevy’s Pizza for the next six months.
Lindsay Mangrum talked about QPR training (Question, Persuade, Refer) that is being done in Jones County by trainer Joy Carr and Shana Backus. She said the training takes 90 minutes, and 170 gatekeepers have been trained.
Mangrum also spoke about Hope Squads that are focused on stopping destructive behavior in schools. She said Hope Squads are peer-led with students working with faculty advisors.
Giulianna Larosa talked about Partners in Prevention activities.
She said the coalition gave out 250 bracelets and other materials at the JCSS rising ninth grader registrations and more bracelets and materials to students attending last week’s senior retreat.
“The goal is to connect with students, but we also talked to a lot of parents,” Larosa said.
She said the next step would be the Catching My Breath program and the Teen Advisory Group at the Jones County Public Library.
Larosa said they also hope to work with the Boys and Girls Club and 4H.
Szoka gave an overview of the five-step Strategic Prevention Framework training that culminates with sustainability and cultural competence.
She said in the next few meetings the group would be going through a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis.
In looking at summer meetings, the group agreed by consensus to skip the July meeting.
The next coalition is scheduled May 24.
