The Suicide Prevention, Awareness, and Recovery Coalition (SPARC) is an inter-county gathering of community members and professionals collaborating on community-wide public health endeavors aimed at the prevention of, awareness of, and recovery from suicide guided by the six founding pillars of the Colorado-National Collaborative.
PREVENTION – efforts aimed at lowering the number of deaths of despair through outreach and connection to individuals who feel they have no other choice but to die by suicide, providing resources and alternatives so they can make an educated choice.
AWARENESS – decreasing stigma around suicide and mental health, normalizing thoughts of suicide, educating on the difference between suicidal ideation & suicidal attempts, normalizing the prevalence in our communities, and fostering thoughtful understanding of what can lead an individual to consider suicide.
RECOVERY – providing hope to individuals who are thinking of suicide, have thought of suicide, have attempted suicide, or know someone who has died from suicide through postvention support and connection.
TCHNetwork is honored to be a part of the Colorado-National Collaborative, a partnership of local, state, and national organizations working to implement comprehensive community-wide strategies for suicide prevention. Looking at suicide through a public health lens, we focus efforts for community change around six guiding pillars, or areas of focus- Connectedness, Economic Stability and Supports, Education and Awareness, Access to Safer Suicide Care, Lethal Means Safety, and Postvention. We aim to serve as a central hub for suicide prevention across our six counties, collaborating with existing changemakers and working together towards policy and practice improvements.
Click here to review the Colorado-National Collaborative for Suicide Prevention
Connectedness
Whether through sharing resources, practicing inclusion, or hosting community events, every facet of the work at TCHNetwork supports Connectedness. Promoting behavioral health services through care coordination, creating an online resource directory, and the everyday work of the Multicultural Advocacy Team all comprise this pillar.
Economic Stability & Supports
Financial stress and insecurity is a risk factor for suicide. Connecting community members with resources for food security, affordable housing, and quality child care supports this pillar. TCHNetwork has multiple team members working to create this stability through endeavors such as financial education and offering free child care during educational workshops.
Education & Awareness
Improving the beliefs and attitudes about suicide, breaking the stigma around asking for help and discussing mental health issues, and being trained in life-saving tactics comprise the Education and Awareness pillar. Through free gatekeeper trainings (gatekeeper=community member trained in identifying warning signs of suicide risk and connecting the individual to services), community conversations, and a focus on high-risk industries & populations, we work to spread awareness of the normality of suicidal thinking and the resources here in our communities that can offer support.
Access to Safer Suicide Care
TCHNetwork works to support local healthcare systems and organizations in implementing best practices for patient care regarding suicide. Many of these strategies revolve around Zero Suicide, a framework developed to implement evidence-based strategies at community healthcare organizations to bring suicide prevention to the forefront of physical healthcare services.
Lethal Means Safety
Reducing access to lethal means, such as firearms and medications, can be one of the most effective methods of suicide prevention. Data across our six-county region shows the prevalence and lethality of death by firearm. Reinforcing and providing safe storage options through the Colorado Gun Shop Project and training community members & providers in CALM (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means) can save lives.
Postvention
While prevention efforts are often the focus in changing the level of suicides in our communities, postvention efforts are just as important. This refers to the response and care for community members affected by a suicide attempt or death. Through encouraging informed messaging regarding deaths by suicide, creating community action plans for support after a loss, and providing grief support care kits and materials, TCHNetwork works to connect individuals with the resources they may need most.
Contact Jamie at j.hurst@tchnetwork.org to join the coalition.
