Central Massachusetts Suicide Prevention Coalition
A member alliance in collaboration with MCSP to prevent suicide.
Are you in a crisis?
Call 988 or text TALK to 741741
The Central Massachusetts Suicide Prevention Coalition is a partnership of mental health professionals, educators, family and friends, survivors of suicide attempts and other individuals and organizations who are committed to preventing suicide. The group strives to raise awareness through education and widespread communication of information about mental health, suicide prevention and prevention resources available in our region.
Become a Member
The Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention is a membership organization, with an annual dues structure that will generate revenue sufficient to cover many of the key advocacy activities of the coalition.
You are invited to a listening session hosted by the Massachusetts Suicide Prevention Innovation Committee!
We are holding listening sessions as part of a needs and strengths assessment in Massachusetts. A needs assessment is a process where we work with community members to understand the strengths, gaps, and needs of a community. The area we are focusing on is upstream suicide prevention. Upstream suicide prevention includes approaches and ideas that may help people develop a life worth living and to thrive - in addition to preventing suicide. This is different than traditional suicide prevention that usually focuses on crisis services. We want to hear your opinions about what could help people develop a life worth living and ways people can thrive.
Our overall question that we are looking for your help in answering is “What are the upstream community needs that could be met to prevent suicide in Massachusetts”?
What community members share is confidential, which means that we will not people in our listening sessions to share their name or personal information, we will not ask for details about personal experiences with suicide, and no one person’s opinions will be shared with their name or other characteristics. We are asking opinions from people across multiple listening sessions to create themes and make a survey to share with lots of people throughout Massachusetts. We want to encourage funding the types of supports that people find helpful.
If you are interested in learning more and signing up for a listening session, please click here. We have times available in afternoons, evenings, and one weekend from May 13 to June 1st. If you serve community members who have experienced suicidal thoughts or despair, we encourage you to share this announcement with them as well. We want to center the voices of people with direct lived experience with suicide despair, and so are starting our listening sessions with people with direct lived experience. Folks who are community members without direct lived experience and clinicians (with and without lived experience) can also sign up with the link here and we’ll contact you when we’re ready to schedule listening sessions with community members and clinicians.
Thank you for all your support of the Massachusetts Suicide Prevention Innovation Committee – and if you’d like to join us, please sign up for our mailing list and receive meeting invitations by emailing mcspinnovationcommittee@gmail.com.
Thank you!
The Massachusetts Suicide Prevention Innovation Committee
Sarah Gaer (Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention)
Lourah Kelly (UMass Chan Medical School, Depts of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Emergency Medicine, CAPES Dissemination and Community Engagement Unit Lead)
Katie Gallant, MSW (National Opinion Research Center)
Arielle Cohen, LCSW (Families for Depression Awareness)
Areliz O. Barbosa CHW, BS (Bay Path Physician Assistant program, Baystate Health PURCH, Baystate WOW Bus, Olivia's Mission, Faith Based Health Alliance, Lived experience)
Danielle Hillman (Pioneer Valley Suicide Prevention Coalition)
Deacon Jim Greer (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston)
Brother Al Mocha (Men of Color Health Awareness)
Jennifer Matoney (Pioneer Valley Coalition for Suicide Prevention)
MOST RECENT COALITION MEETING NOTES
For those unable to join our recent meeting Friday (JANUARY 17th), we were joined by guest speaker Karina Kelley-Jiménez. Her work is directly connected to suicide awareness and the impact that ICE custody has on detainees. We covered critical updates on systemic challenges in ICE detention, with a particular focus on mental health vulnerabilities, solitary confinement, and ongoing advocacy efforts.
An email has gone out with notes from the event. Please see the recording here.
OUR MOST RECENT EVENT
Stop, Drop, Roll: A Novel Method for Emotional Regulation
Over the course of this one-hour webinar, Dr. Ursula Whiteside will present a free, evidence-based solution for managing highly intense emotional states, which, if unchecked, may culminate in unplanned suicide attempts or other adverse outcomes. It empowers individuals to recognize and navigate these states safely, akin to the Stop, Drop, and Roll response to a physical fire. This approach draws on insights from survivors of suicide attempts and the foundational work of Dr. Marsha Linehan, in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Please find an attached paper under review and supplementary images for a more in-depth understanding.