There’s talk at the Legislature of creating a Suicide Fatality Review Board (much like the child fatality review board). The idea is to review all suicides in Arizona and find trends and brainstorm prevention programming (interventions in AZ are difficult because the trends often depend on geography).
Yavapai County has the highest rate of suicide, but this is among those 65 and older. Native American youth are most at risk for suicide, but prevention resources are often harder to access in Arizona’s rural and frontier counties where most Native Americans live.
I’ve also heard rumors that there will be a bill that will enhance the existing behavioral health services in schools- but I haven’t heard any details about what the initiative is or what it would do yet. Stay tuned.
