GENESEO — The Geneseo Village Board met with Lynne Mignemi, the chair of the Livingston County Suicide Prevention Task Force in order to address the high volume of suicide and mental health related emergency calls.
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The issue was first brought up by Trustee Leah Fletcher during a June 4 board meeting. Fletcher noted that she was surprised by the number of calls to police regarding individuals wanting to harm themselves, and wanted to look into what, if anything, the village could do to help these individuals. Geneseo is not alone in their desire to better support those in their community who are suffering from mental health issues.
“In 2013, Livingston County had the highest suicide rate in the Finger Lakes Region with 15 per 100,000 . That’s really what guided this work and the need for this work” says Mignemi. “We want to be the clearinghouse for information on the topic of suicide for Livingston County. When you need resource information, when you need education information, we don’t want you to have to run around and look for it.”
Mignemi said that one of the most important ways to address the issue of suicide is to increase knowledge about suicide and mental illness, which is what The Task Force attempts to do through their sponsored programs and on their Facebook page. The Suicide Prevention Task Force has made numerous efforts to better educate communities in Livingston County about mental health in general, as well as offering gatekeeper training programs.
“In the world of suicide prevention, gatekeeper trainings are research based trainings and methodologies that will educate the community on how to safely have discussions on the topic of suicide,” said Mignemi. “Because what research shows us is that talking about suicide and asking a person if they have suicidal ideation or are thinking about suicide or have a plan for suicide, does not result in suicide.”
One of the most notable training programs that the Suicide Prevention Task Force have held this year has been with staff members of Livonia Central School, where the task force sponsored three gatekeeper training sessions for 180 staff members at the school. The task force has also held training programs for Geneseo Central School, SUNY Geneseo, local law enforcement, primary care physicians, and recently held the first of three planned training sessions with the VFW: Veterans of Foreign Wars.
In 2017, the task force began focusing more on the education of the veteran population after noticing that half of the confirmed suicides that were reported to them by the coroner’s office were veterans.
“We started getting data in 2016, 2017 was the first full year of data, and we had 10 confirmed suicides, five of them were veterans,” said Mignemi. “So what that said to us is that we needed to work with the veteran population. That’s when I met up with Jason Skinner, and we set up this plan to have three meetings at the VFWs on veteran’s turf, where they are most comfortable to have the conversation.”
The Geneseo Village Board expressed interest in working with the task force to hold gatekeeper training for as well as providing links to the task force’s information on the village website. Currently, there are already efforts in the village to raise awareness about the topic of suicide. SUNY Geneseo has held an annual campus Out of Darkness Walk to raise awareness and funds for the prevention of suicide in April, as well as participating in the gatekeeper training. The task force has also held candle light vigils for the victims of suicide, and they have even shown a PSA to raise suicide awareness before movies in Geneseo theaters. Additionally, the village board plans to continue brainstorming ways to help improve the mental health of the community as a whole.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Additional information about suicide prevention advocacy can be found at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Information about the Livingston County Suicide Prevention Task Force can be found at their Facebook page or at the Genesee Valley Health Partnership website.