Rattle the Stars

We are working to prevent suicide. Our goal is not just to prevent suicide deaths, but also prevent suicidal thoughts and behaviors by promoting life. We work to reduce risk factors, build protective factors, and to create community-wide support networks to provide services and supports that meet the needs of suicidal people and their supportive persons.

We center the voices and needs of people who have experienced suicide in all of work. In our suicide prevention consultation service, we work within institutions to promote cultural change to create norms and social spaces built on understanding, safety, and support. Rather than telling suicidal people to ask for help, we work to eliminate discrimination so that they feel safe doing so. Understanding that people exist in many spaces, we offer this service to schools, businesses, and community groups and agencies. Our youth and adult training programs advocate for treating suicidal people with respect and dignity and shifting from risk-averse responses to compassionate, culturally sensitive, non-judgmental, strengths-based, trauma-informed responses. We also understand that people experiencing suicide need ongoing support from their social networks. Rather than teaching people to simply refer suicidal people to mental health services, we teach skills that people can continue to use to be a supportive person. Understanding that suicide is a community issue, we expand suicide prevention beyond mental health services to include a variety of other formal and informal support networks, including schools, businesses, and other community organizations. We collaborate with and support other organizations that interact with people at-risk for suicide, such as those that serve veterans, the LGBTQ+ community, the elderly, youth (including bullying prevention), survivors of sexual assault and abuse, survivors of domestic violence, and people impacted by community violence.

Currently, we have the capability to provide training to approximately 5,000 people per year, and to provide consultation to approximately 20 organizations per year. We also host two large community events each year and participate in at least 10 other events to share information and resources. With funding for additional staff, we will expand our capability to bring suicide prevention services to the community.

We have developed training programs for a variety of audiences, we have provided training to hundreds of people, and we have assisted several organizations in completing suicide response plans. We will continue to expand our programs and reach more people in the community. We are also building capacity to offer postvention support using a therapy dog and to begin offering direct support services to people affected by suicide.