Sedalia Democrat | Community Coalition on Suicide Prevention and … – Sedalia Democrat

Tuesday evening, work began by the members of the newly-formed Community Coalition on Suicide Prevention and Awareness.

The organization was created, in light of the rising number of suicides in Pettis County, to address the issue of suicide prevention and to bring about an awareness of the existing services already available to offer help to individuals and family members.

There are a lot of people and groups who are already doing a number of things to address the issues of suicide and mental health here in Pettis County, said Chris Guffey, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church and co-chair of the organization. We are not here to criticize any group or individual or to lay blame; there is not a singular institution that bears the blame, instead what our focus is is to see a better community for tomorrow.

Its as Pastor Jim (Downing of First United Methodist Church and co-chair of the committee) said when we were talking earlier, We cant be knights in shining armor and we cant solve all the worlds problems, Guffey added. but if we can clearly communicate to the community that there are things that already exist to provide help and support then we have succeeded.

Comprised of some 30 community leaders, three students and 10 parents, those in attendance Tuesday laid the groundwork for the committees operation.

The Coalition will operate in four stages:

Stage 1: Formation and structure.

Stage 2: Defining scope of coalition work and distribution of duties.

Stage 3: Community cooperation. This is the awareness stage. There will be an intentional effort by the coalition to raise awareness to the problem of suicide, present a report on coalition work, and organize community efforts to combat this increasing problem.

Stage 4: Sustainability of coalition. This stage will examine the future of coalition and its needs moving forward.

Members also discussed how to approach the tasks needed to complete a report for the community.

One goal is to not have everyone try to do everything, Guffey explained. We outlined four sub-groups, each with a specific task that we think will benefit our work.

Of course we will consider everyones input but Im asking you to think about where does your passion lie, Guffey said. Hopefully at our next meeting we can divide into our groups and begin working on our goals.

The first group is Evaluation.

This groups work is dedicated to understanding the key issues surrounding suicide with considerations given to national and state information provided through the Department of Health, Guffey said. However, special considerations should be given to local challenges through student and adult focus groups, Missouri Department of Health Student Survey, communication with local health organizations, collaboration with faith communities, and any further entity or organization which offers pertinent local information.

Education is the second group. This groups work is dedicated to communication with the community for the distribution of information, Guffey said. Further, this group will focus on discovery of local available resources.

Group three, or Prevention, will focus on recommendations to local institutions government, health care, faith, and education for prevention of future suicides, Guffey said. This is a compilation group which offers resources to all local institutions, based upon the work of groups one and two. Finally, this group will offer recommendations for future community engagement.

The fourth group is Post-Suicide Assistance.

The focus of their work will be on providing resources to Sedalia institutions for after-suicide care to let family members and loved ones know what resources are available to help those who are left behind.

Throughout the meeting, several in attendance shared a similar view that there is a lack of awareness on everyones part throughout the community of what already exists to help in the prevention of suicide and the resources available to those who have suffered a loss to suicide.

We have to help the community come together as one, said Amanda Eisenbarth, founder of Memory Lane Foundation. Thats where it all needs to start.

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Hope Lecchi can be reached at 660-826-1000 ext. 1484

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Sedalia Democrat | Community Coalition on Suicide Prevention and ... - Sedalia Democrat