Division of Suicide Prevention
Mission
The mission of the Division of Suicide Prevention at the Comprehensive Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin is to prevent suicide in our community through research, education, clinical care, and community engagement and to serve as an academic partner and resource to community-based agencies who are engaged in suicide prevention work. Our vision is a community without suicide.
Overarching Goals
- Advance the science around suicide and suicide prevention by engaging in novel research that makes new discoveries across the translational spectrum
- Educate campus and community partners as well as policymakers at the local and state level on the burden of suicide in our state and provide information on the latest evidence on best practices in suicide prevention
- Engage with hospital partners to ensure that patients who interface with clinical systems are provided with suicide safe care that empowers them toward recovery
- Meaningfully serve our community partners who are engaged in suicide prevention efforts to maximize the adoption, reach, and efficacy of this work
Partners
Short-Term Goals
The Division of Suicide Prevention is implementing activities that advance the following one-to-three-year goals:
Goal 1: Develop a logic plan and work plan to guide and evaluate Division activities.
Goal 2: Increase awareness of the Division to local and state-level funders and secure foundation funding for Division efforts.
Goal 3: Grow the staff of the Division to provide research, evaluation, and grant writing support for Division initiatives.
Goal 4: Develop and deploy a statewide database for the collection and analysis of data that emerges from suicide review teams.
Goal 5: Together with the City of Milwaukee Office of Violence Prevention, conduct a deep-dive analysis into suicides in the Black and Brown communities in Milwaukee, to inform culturally relevant suicide prevention activities, and disseminate the findings of this work back to the community.
Goal 6: Along with Milwaukee Suicide Review Commission partners, develop and implement a suicide crisis response team to respond to individuals in the community who are at-risk for suicide, and to provide postvention support to survivors of suicide loss.
Goal 7: Apply for NIH funding to support state-level research and program implementation related to suicide prevention.