EDC Receives $7.5 Million Grant from HHS to Establish National Suicide Prevention Resource Center

Newton, MA: The division of Health and Human Development Programs at EDC will establish a national suicide prevention resource center, with a grant of $2.5 million per year for a total of 3 years, to provide information about and assistance to communities implementing suicide prevention programs. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health

Services Administration (SAMHSA), was announced yesterday in Washington by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

"Even one death from suicide is too many," said Secretary Thompson. "The challenge for the new

promote community-based suicide prevention programs that work, and resource center is to identify, evaluate and to create systems of services in which every door is an open door to help,'' Thompson said.

''Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States,'' said Dr. Lloyd Potter, deputy director of EDC's Center for Violence and Injury Prevention. ''The Center's primary goal will be to save lives by sharing best practices in suicide prevention. We are honored to have the tremendous opportunity to work with SAMHSA, the Federal Steering Committee, and our dedicated partners to create a central resource for states and communities who are seeking to build and evaluate suicide prevention programs,'' Dr. Potter said.

The center allows HHD to build on its current work developing indicators to measure progress in suicide prevention and providing training on best practices.

''The Center will have a vital role in preventing suicide in this country, and achieving the goals and objectives for action contained in the National Strategy to Prevent Suicide,'' said Dr. Morton Silverman, an international expert on suicide prevention, who will direct the Center. The National Suicide Prevention Resource Center is a collaborative effort among Health and Human Development Programs/EDC, the American Association of Suicidology, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network.