Bear River Mental Health And Suicide Prevention

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah. September 5, 2018.  Suicide rates in Utah have gone up.  Beth Smith, Bear River Mental Health, reported to Rich County Commissioners about the BRMH Area Plan and a new program for suicide prevention. 

The stabilization mobile response is designed to aid in suicide prevention outreach for persons under 23.  A specially trained team can be sent to the home or the school in a crisis situation.  First, the police must stabilize the situation and then the team goes in to counsel with the person threatening suicide.  The team must be deployed within one hour. However, for Rich County, the team may not get to the situation within one hour even though deployed immediately.  

This effort is being done in a partnership with Davis County.   They will take a call for anyone; unlike other BRMH programs the subject does not have to be on Medicaid.  The number of people calling the mobile team has increased each month.  This is an expensive program which is funded by a grant.  The team has to include one master’s level therapist dedicated to the mobile unit. The therapist has to be ready to go at a moment’s notice and therefore cannot be doing other therapeutic counseling.

If another grant is funded, the BRMH will build an adult mobile crisis team.

The Mental Health Court often sends repeat offenders for Moral Recognition Therapy (MRT) which is a group type of training by certified trainers to make patients aware that their own decisions can either get them into trouble or make their lives better. Mental health court pays for the treatment. 

They are also starting into an employment program as a part of case management. 
 

The state cut funding for school based counseling, so they are using it now mostly in grade schools to do early intervention.   They have written for a grant which will do tele-health programs in the middle and high schools.  Rich County had full day with two therapists, but now that funding has been cut; there is just one therapist working one full day.  BRMH staff are hoping a tele-health grant will replace the second therapist in Rich County, and that the state will re instate the funding.  

County Commissioner Bill Cox said that as there are more suicides and shootings, it becomes obvious that more help is needed. 

Smith praised Cox for being an active member on the Board.  “He does more than he has to on our board,” said Smith. “He gets it.”