Colorado’s new Suicide Prevention Commission is meeting this morning for the first time. KRCC’s Eliza Densmore reports.
The state legislature created the group to establish new efforts for prevention priorities, broaden public and private partnerships, and identify funding resources.
Jarrod Hindman is the Suicide Prevention Section Manager at the Department of Public Health. He says the commission is expected to build on past prevention efforts.
"One of the things we know," says Hindman, "is that we need more people involved in suicide prevention. It’s a public health issue in Colorado and people don’t realize it’s a public health issue. And it can’t just be the suicide prevention community doing this work. We need partners in business, we need partners in the nonprofit sector and philanthropic sector and all other sectors to engage in this work."
The commission includes representatives from state agencies, business, and law enforcement, among other industries.
Last year over 1,000 Coloradans died by suicide, making the state’s suicide rate one of the highest in the nation.
