Presenter: James Allen, MPH, CHES, Program Consultant, Child and Adolescent Health Division, Oklahoma State Department of Health
Conceptual Framework: Oklahoma's public health infrastructure needs to be further developed and coordinated at both the state and local levels.
- Agencies within Health and Human Services need to increase coordination and collaboration with each other at the state level- this will translate down to the service delivery level in local communities.
- Rather than compete for scarce resources, community agencies and organizations need to pool their efforts to address some of the shared core issues that result in youth suicide, violence, adolescent pregnancy, substance abuse, etc.
Youth suicide prevention is addressed using the core public health functions of assessment, policy and assurance of service.
Lead agency in state plan development - Department of Health
Other partners:
- Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
- Department of Education
- State Legislators, Youth Ministers, Suicide Survivors
- Mental Health Professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, family counselors)
- Suicide prevention organization representatives
- School teachers
Strengths:
- State plan is customizable to communities based on their level of readiness and capacity, yet is uniform enough to be effectively coordinated.
- Does not see suicide prevention occurring in a vacuum, but that it can be incorporated into many other existing health promotion efforts.
- State plan has legislative support.
Progress summary:
- State plan completed and sent to Legislature in December, 2000.
- Two bills are currently in session that relate to the state plan.
- Pending bill passage, the State Youth Suicide Prevention Council will oversee the implementation of the state plan beginning summer 2001.
Lessons learned:
- Youth involvement in plan development is essential.
- Input from specific populations is often best achieved by bringing the information to them, rather then having them come to you.
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