Zero suicide partners of pinellas - suncoast center, INC., is the organizational chair of zero suicide partners of pinellas (zspop) and serves pinellas county, florida (FL)

Zspop is a collective impact project which was initiated in 2016 by suncoast center and other organizations from the pinellas county behavioral health system of care. The purpose of this project is to prevent suicidal thoughts and behaviors, including suicide attempts and deaths through implementation of the zero suicide framework and a suicide prevention care pathway across multiple partnering organizations. Through this project, zspop will serve 50 (unduplicated) individuals in year 1, and 75 annually in years 2-5, for a total of 350 individuals. The population of focus (POF) for zspop is any individual in pinellas county who may experience suicidal thoughts or behaviors, including (but not limited to) young adults, veterans and their families, older adults, and lgbtq+ communities, as well as individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. The zero suicide framework includes planning, implementation, and evaluation of 7 key elements: lead, train, identify, engage, treat, transition, and improve. Additionally, this project expands suicide prevention efforts from the clinical setting to community settings through outreach, education, training, and safe messaging practices. We acknowledge that no one is immune to moments of crises, which may result in suicidal thoughts and behaviors, regardless of any potential mental health conditions. We also recognize there is often intersectionality within the project's POF, which may affect their access to care and the behavioral health equity within pinellas county. Pinellas county's 2021 age-adjusted suicide rate (per 100,000 population) of 20.3 is higher than the state (16.9) and national (14.1) 2021 averages. In a 2021 community health needs assessments by ALL4HEALTHFL, 11.5% of pinellas respondents indicated they had suicidal or self-harming thoughts for several days, more than half of the days or nearly every day over the past year. FL has the largest veteran population of any state, with a veteran suicide rate of 40.9 (per 100,000). Additionally, 16% of lgbtq+ youth (through 24 years of age) and 20% of transgender or non-binary youth, in florida, attempted suicide in 2021. By intentionally reaching out to individuals who may not be connected to behavioral health systems of care, in addition to implementing universal screening for suicide risk, we increase our engagement with at-risk populations this includes those who might not seek formal support due to issues of access, stigma, or cultural beliefs. The number of unduplicated individuals to be served with award funds each years are estimated to be 10% of all individuals who enter the suicide prevention care pathway. These numbers represent the individuals who will have national outcome measures (noms) reported during their time in the suicide prevention care pathway. Additionally, we expect to reach approximately 60 unduplicated individuals annually through community engagement activities. Both the 2023 - 2028 pinellas county community health improvement plan (chip) and the 2022 - 2026 FL state health improvement plan (ship) include objectives to reduce deaths by suicide. The implementation approach for this project aligns with established health priority area goals, objectives, and activities as outlined by 2023 - 2028 pinellas county chip and the 2022 - 2026 FL ship, demonstrating strong collaborations across the zspop and partnering organizations. Since 2017, over 38 organizations, agencies, companies, groups, and community members have participated in the zspop project, with many providing aggregate data on metrics related to the established suicide prevention care pathway, designed using the zero suicide framework. Our partnering organizations for this project are all highly experienced in providing quality behavioral health services to the POF.