The goal is to improve mental health through prevention and by ensuring access to appropriate, quality mental health services.

Suicide Prevention Coalition

• Mental Health Drug and Alcohol Services Board for Logan and Champaign Counties

• TCN

• Community Health and Wellness Partners 

• Logan County Health District 

• Mary Rutan Hospital Staff

• Family and Children First Council

• Logan County School Districts

For 2020-22, the Suicide Prevention Coalition (SPC) has developed an Implementation Plan that includes a number of effective strategies designed to prevent suicides. These strategies include school-based suicide education, peer mentoring program, integrating behavioral health and primary care, Zero Suicide and Mental Health First Aid programs, use of telehealth, training in motivational interviewing, Question Persuade Refer, and limiting access to lethal means.

Data from the 2020 CHA indicates that there is a continuing need to address mental health issues among youth and adults in Logan County to prevent suicides. Between 2017 and 2019, harm-related emergency room visits at Mary Rutan Hospital increased by 36% and the number of patients and patient visits for behavioral and mental health issues increased more than threefold. In the first three quarters of 2020, there were over 3,100 patients who said they were “better off dead” or were hurting themselves in some way. This was up from about 1,800 similar responses in 2019 suggesting that the pandemic likely contributed to the spike. In addition, 43.5% of respondents to the CHA survey ranked mental health as a high need and 64% of respondents listed mental health and addiction as a challenge. The number of patients treated for suicide at Mary Rutan Hospital increased for all age groups, including 0–17- year-old youths, and for both males and females from 2017 – 2019. For school-age children, data from the Logan County public schools indicates that between 16-21% of students screened for suicide risk were positive.