LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) — September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and help is available for anyone in a household dealing with mental health challenges. The 988 Crisis Hotline is a key resource to start a conversation with experts about support in the area.
Positive Pier Advocate Groups in local school districts is holding events to raise awareness among students. PASS (Prevention Awareness Support Services) has also partnered with Allen County Public Health to provide lockable safes for guns or prescription medications, helping prevent access to lethal means of suicide.
The purpose of the safe is not to remove firearms from homes but to make homes safer for all family members by working with local school districts.
“You know that youth suicides, unfortunately, are on the increase, and so getting preventative efforts in there, recognizing the symptoms or the warning signs, talking with the school administrators, the school counselors, the school staff, about the concerns and not ignoring them, not that they would intentionally, but just recognizing, hey, that's a student that might benefit from additional support, and then having the resource available at no charge to the to the family, putting it out there, making a safer environment,” said Rick Skilliter, OCPS, CTR, CCISM, Executive Director, PASS Lima.
PASS and the Suicide Prevention Coalition are going further with education by offering a free conference to raise awareness of local treatment options and focus on Lethal Means Safety, specifically firearms.
“The fact that over 90% of completed suicides involve the use of a firearm. So this is something we need to address. We need to have conversations about how we can help people that are perhaps suffering from a mental health crisis and they don't know what to do, they have ready access to a gun. And we want to educate families. We want to educate friends, co workers, anyone that has an interest in this, so that they can get the help that they need in a timely manner,” said Diane Tegenkamp, Prevention Specialist, PASS Lima.
The Lethal Means Safety and Treatment Access Conference will be Thursday, Oct. 16, at the Mercy Health Graduate Medical Building. Gun shop owners, veterans, first responders, and other mental health experts will speak at the free event, and lunch will be provided. To sign up, click on the QR code below.
