Suicide Prevention Month highlights crisis resources across southeast Missouri

FOX23 News at 9 p.m

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) — Mental health professionals in southeast Missouri are using Suicide Prevention Month to make sure residents know what help is available before, during and after a mental health crisis.

Community Counseling Center provides behavioral health services across Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Madison, Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties. Those services range from suicide prevention training and mobile crisis response to short-term stabilization at the Behavioral Health Crisis Center in Cape Girardeau.

Local providers say the goal is to make it easier for people to understand where to turn — even if they are unsure what kind of help they need.

Rick Strait, Community Counseling Center’s substance use division director and suicide prevention coordinator, focuses part of his work on preventing a crisis before it reaches an emergency.

Strait helps coordinate suicide prevention education throughout the region, including Question, Persuade and Refer, or QPR, training. The program teaches people how to recognize when someone may be struggling, start a conversation and connect that person with professional help.

“I believe that most everybody, if not everybody, wants to help somebody who’s struggling,” Strait said. “But they’re afraid they’re going to mess it up.”

He said the training is designed to help people understand they do not need to have every answer themselves. Instead, they can learn how to recognize warning signs, approach someone and connect them with a resource that can provide additional help.

Reaching people in more rural areas can present another challenge, Strait said. Some communities are more isolated, and residents may be less likely to seek assistance or may have fewer opportunities to attend in-person training.

Community Counseling Center also offers suicide prevention programs focused on creating safer environments for people experiencing a crisis. Strait said those trainings address issues including access to firearms and medications when someone may be at risk.

When a person is already experiencing a mental health crisis, another Community Counseling Center program is designed to bring help directly to them.

Shawni Butler, the center’s emergency services supervisor, oversees its mobile crisis response team.

“We meet individuals where they’re at anytime they’re in a mental health crisis,” Butler said.

That can mean meeting someone at a Community Counseling Center office, in their home, virtually or even in a public location such as a park or parking lot.

People can call or text 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and Butler said the local mobile crisis team can be dispatched when appropriate.

Once responders make contact, they assess the person’s immediate risk and determine what level of care may be needed. That could include safety planning, connecting someone with outpatient treatment or helping them reach a higher level of care.

Butler described the mobile team as a “middleman” between someone in crisis and the services that may be able to help them.

“Sometimes just walking through the door is the hardest part,” Butler said. “So we’re trying to make sure that they don’t have to do that alone.”

She said crisis response resources in the region have expanded in recent years, including the launch of 988, mobile crisis response, the Behavioral Health Crisis Center and additional psychiatric care in Cape Girardeau.

That system gives people multiple entry points depending on what they need — someone to talk to, someone to respond or somewhere to go.

One of those places is the Behavioral Health Crisis Center in Cape Girardeau.

Program Manager Matthew Tompkins said the center serves people experiencing an immediate mental or behavioral health crisis and provides counseling, peer support, medication and 24-hour medical care at no cost.

The center is a partnership between Community Counseling Center and Gibson Recovery Center, bringing mental health and substance use services together in one location.

Tompkins said that combination is especially important because about 90% of the people seen at the center are dealing with both mental health and substance use disorders.

The facility has four observation chairs and four crisis residential beds. Clients can remain there for up to four days while staff work to stabilize the immediate crisis and connect them with longer-term services.

Despite those resources, Tompkins said the center is not often at capacity.

“We’ve only been full a few times, a handful of times,” Tompkins said. “I do think it’s underutilized. Getting the word out is really important.”

He said the smaller setting also allows staff to spend more time learning what each person needs and helping them decide what the next step should look like.

For people who may be afraid to ask for help, Tompkins said reaching out can be difficult, but it can also open the door to resources they may not have known were available.

“It’s terrifying to reach out and ask,” Tompkins said. “What you might find when you do ask is that people really want to help, and they can meet you where you’re at and help you get to that next step so that you can see tomorrow.”

Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can call or text 988 to connect with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. People experiencing an emergency requiring an immediate physical response should call 911.

To learn more visit www.cccntr.com/resources/