State hopes primary care doctors can aid suicide prevention efforts

April 15--With suicide rates in New Mexico at a 19-year high, state officials are turning to doctors to screen patients for mental health issues.

Jacqueline Nielsen, project director for the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Program, said during a meeting Thursday of the state's Behavioral Health Collaborative that officials are training primary care providers on suicide screening protocols because they are often a suicidal patient's only connection with the health care system.

"Health and behavioral health providers need to be asking sometimes the difficult questions," Nielsen said.

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded the state Human Services Department a $1.47 million, three-year grant in 2014 to create the program and conduct suicide training for providers. After Human Services saw $3 million cut from the fiscal year 2017 budget for its Behavioral Health Services Division, which funds mental health services for low-income patients, officials are hoping the federal money will help fill any treatment gaps.

The suicide prevention program also is a reflection of Gov. Susana Martinez's efforts to align physical care with mental health treatment in publicly funded programs such as Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income people.

The efforts come at a dire time for the state. New Mexico's 2014 suicide rate of 21.1 deaths per 100,000 residents is the fifth highest in the nation, according to state records. That year, the number of suicides in the state, as well as the rate of suicides as a proportion of the population, were the highest they've been since 1995. State officials have not yet posted 2015 data.

In 1995, according to the state Department of Health, 298 New Mexico residents died of suicide. In 2014, the data show, that number rose to 450.

Suicide deaths have been climbing nationally since 2000. Still, New Mexico's suicide rate is 50 percent higher than the national rate, according to state records.

James Wright, a public health adviser for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, told the state's Behavioral Health Collaborative that New Mexico is one of the few states without a "systematic approach to suicide prevention," including a suicide prevention plan.

For too long, he said, physical health providers have thought of suicide as a mental health issue that only should be addressed by a mental health professional.

Officials on Thursday presented data gathered by the federal government that show 50 percent of the people who died of suicide had contact with a primary care provider within a month of their death, while just 20 percent of those who committed suicide had talked with a behavioral health provider within a month of their death. The data also show only 10 percent of those who died of suicide had visited an emergency room within two months of their death.

Now the focus is on training health care providers to help prevent suicides. State officials are working with The University of New Mexico to launch 90-minute training presentations for primary care providers and emergency departments.

Training includes public education programs like mental health first aid. Officials are hoping health care providers and schools will begin using information learned in the training, such as implementing suicide prevention strategies, after the grant cycle ends in 2017.

Officials have been using the money to implement a "zero suicide model" in Bernalillo, Otero and Curry counties.

In March, the New Mexico Crisis and Access line handled 2,624 calls, and 27 percent of them included concerns about suicide, according to state officials.

The crisis hotline, announced by Martinez's administration in February 2013, is a 24/7 line staffed by mental health professionals. The number is 1-855-NMCRISIS.

Contact Justin Horwath at 505-986-3017 or jhorwath@sfnewmexican.com.

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