About Prevent Suicide WV

Prevent Suicide West Virginia, West Virginia’s statewide suicide prevention program, provides for education, consultation and technical assistance services, intervention, follow-up and support services for our fellow West Virginians as it relates to suicide risk and loss. Working to reduce the number of lives lost in West Virginia through the development and implementation of a collaborative and coordinated statewide prevention and early intervention strategies, Prevent Suicide West Virginia aims to make suicide a core priority in statewide public and private serving systems. The work of Prevent Suicide West Virginia is in honor of those lost, those who have lost and those who struggle to stay alive.

Funded through the Bureau of Behavioral Health and the Bureau for Public Health, the program provides a wide array of services to a lifespan population throughout the state including: 1) an increased capacity of suicide prevention and intervention education; 2) incorporation of comprehensive evidence-based programs and practices; 3)implementation of measures that expand universal suicide prevention and messages of hope and help for the populations across the lifespan; 4) identification, referral and engagement interventions for at-risk individuals; 5) technical assistance and consultation services for suicide prevention, intervention and postvention measures across systems and agencies; 6) providing for protective, caring follow-up services for attempt survivors and their families; and 7) builds the capacity of organizations serving vulnerable sub-populations to effectively deliver coordinated care. Finally, the program works towards producing a statewide infrastructure for culturally competent, caring, comprehensive, sustainable suicide prevention, intervention, and follow-up system of care.