Wellstar Zero Suicide Initiative

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in Georgia. Mental health issues have increased considerably during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by the CDC Those at risk are showing up and yet very few providers are trained to identify, assess and treat these patients with evidence based care.

Roswell, North Fulton and Milton Rotary Clubs worked with Wellstar to sponsor CAMS Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality. This program has been shown to have equal or better outcomes against other evidence based therapies. CAMS is a flexible therapeutic framework in which patient and provider work together to assess the patients suicidal risk and use that information to plan and manage suicide treatment.

Initially in person training, this changed to a virtual event which allowed for more participants. Registration SOLD OUT within two hours. A second session was added for Nov. 13th. One hundred forty four health care providers attended the live webinars and received 7 CEUs.

The reach of this training extends far beyond these individuals, but also to their colleagues as they are equipped to train and to their patients, their colleague's patients who will benefit from these best practices.

Wellstar Zero Suicide Initiative was promoted at meetings at all three clubs. John Paul Croom, Pres., Wellstar North Fulton spoke at Roswell Rotary. Wellstar will include in their annual donor report and Rotary is listed on donor wall installations at all eleven Wellstar hospitals (Atlanta -2, Austell, Douglasville, Hiram, Griffin, Jackson, LaGrange, Marietta - 2 and Roswell.)