CDC aims to break cycle of suicides

Local, community-based programs seen as key

By: Eduardo Cuevas
USA Today

NEW YORK - Samantha Alexander calls Manhattan's Fountain House her "early salvation."
..... Months ago, while living in a midtown homeless shelter, she attempted to take her own life. Despite being assigned male at birth, she'd known since was young that she was a woman. She'd experience chronic depression since childhood and had tried various medications to treat it, she said.
..... After her attempt, she agreed to go with a friend to the Fountain House, a mental health nonprofit around the corner from the shelter. The organization helped her find treatment and a studio apartment downtown. She now spends nearly every day there mingling with friends and discussing makeup and fashion. She also volunteers doing office work and cleaning up.
..... Her sense of self is palpable, allemande said. She was wearing a blue blazer, blue toenail polish and jewel-studded blur fingernails.
..... "It's the community," she said. "It's everything, baby."
..... Alexander has experienced the type of interventions expects say are transformational. The program has drawn the attention of federal and local public health officials, who visited the Fountain House last week to understand strategies for addressing the rising U.S. suicide rate.
..... The U.S. recorded more than 49,000 suicides in 2021 and 2022, a historic high. Provisions data from 2023 appear to show the number of deaths by suicide, the majority begin gun fatalities, has not declined.
..... The Biden administration has set an ambitious goal to break the cycle. the U.S. will aim to reduce the suicide rate by 20% by 2025 as part of the national Strategy for Suicide Prevention to address gaps and identify at-risk populations. The plan focuses on local, community-based suicide prevention programs that can assist in early intervention and offer direct interactions with people with lived experience to discuss risks and solutions. Another key goal is tor educe access to lethal means, such as firearms.
..... Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director few the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who joined the tour of Fountain House, said mental health and reducing deaths by suicide and overdose are a focus for public health officials. Mental health has broad political consensus, and date is needed to ensure the most effective methods are being promoted, she previously told USA Today. Cohen has been traveling across the country visiting places that are making an impact in mental health treatment. She visited a San Diego health center, a Nashville home-based mental health training program, and last week [05/14/2024] came to the clubhouse in New York City.
..... "We know in moment of suicide, people fell isolated," Cohen said Tuesday [05/14/2024] at Fountain House. "They feel like they don;t have someone to reach out to. If you have the opportunity to be in a community, I think that helps."
..... In the sun-filled brick townhouse just blocks form Times Square, officials witnessed people with severe mental illness helping to support and guide one another. The program offers gardening and study rooms for peer tutoring. A wall displays pennants of colleges that Fountain House participants have attended.
..... In its broader prevention plans, the CDC aims to ramp up resources such as the national 988 hot-line in communities that don't have clubhouses like Fountain House, Cohen said. The call system has faced challenges due to a lack of funding, limited awareness and scarce resources for people in crisis, as USA Today has reported.
..... Fountain House clubhouse in Manhattan and the South Bronx see about 2,000 people. Participation is voluntary, but it requires an applications and a diagnosis of severe mental illness. The program is free. The model has been replicated in hundreds of places nationwide.
..... Ken Zimmerman, CEO of Fount House, pointed to the cost-saving benefits of the program, noting the nonprofit reduced Medicaid expenses by 21% by reducing emergency hospitalizations, according to a 2017 New York University analysis. about 40% of participants are unhoused when they enter the program, and nearly all find stable housing Zimmerman said.
..... "It's the antidotes because it is intentionally focused on creating a place where everybody belongs and is needed," he said. The gaol is to welcome vulnerable people and "empower them to live their best lives."
..... New York City Heath Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan,a former head of Fountain House, has cerated a sweeping mental health plan for the city to address serious menial illness, suicides and overdoses. the plan includes expanding clubhouses like Fountain House and focusing on stabilization and prevention for people with severe mental illness, to avoid the cycle of crises and repeated hospitalization and arrests.
..... Fountain House proves that community might have a bigger role to play in someone's therapy, he said.
..... Alexander volunteers to do secretarial work at Fountain House. She donated half her wardrobe to be used for the organization's fashion show later this month. [05/2024] She's known at the clubhouse for her fashion sense.
..... "Fountain House is my home away from home," she said. "I feel safe here. I feel not judged here."
..... Alexander's best friend in the program is Catherine Campbell, who has been coming to the clubhouse for 12 years.
..... Campbell, 38, is studying applied mathematics at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, an opportunity that came about following a computer programming internship she learned of at Fountain House. Studying helps with her schizophrenia.
..... On Tuesday [05/14/2024] afternoon, Campbell planed to hand out peppermints at the clubhouse. When she hands out candies, she typically says, "Praise God." But first, she asks people if they'll be bothered by a religious blessing. The goal, she said, is simply to make sure people feel loved.
..... If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text or chat with the 988 Suicide & crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org fro 24/7 access to free and confidential services.

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