A new grant will continue suicide prevention programs in the state even though the grant that originally funding the programs ran out at the end of September. At first the department of mental health was not eligible for another one, but Suicide prevention coordinator Scott Perkins with the state mental health department said that changed.
"We just heard back that we did receive another 3 year grant so we’re very excited to be able to continue what we’ve been doing and actually even expand services," he said. "There are large areas of the state that would not have received any training after October 1 st and the same thing in the university system there were some things that they had going that would unfortunately have come to a halt if we had not received this grant, so it’s nice to be able to see it continue and not only continue but for us to be able to expand it."
The grant is for $500,000 a year over the next three years. That’s $100,000 more than the last grant and will let the department do more to prevent suicide. With the money, the department will double the number of resource centers, from seven to 14.
"Part of that will go to the expansion of trainers and the local sites and we also are going to do some bill boards around the state and some things that haven’t done the past few years as far as education and awareness and social marketing."
The money will also let the department update their website and print new materials.