Study Shows That Suicide Intervention During and After Incarceration Reduces Suicide Attempts by 55%
by Douglas Ankney
“Many of the risk factors for suicide are overrepresented in the population of people who come into contact with the criminal justice system every year, (including) high rates of psychiatric illness, high rates of substance use, trauma exposure, people living in unsafe environments. So we set forward to evaluate whether an intervention that we knew to be effective in the healthcare setting would be effective in preventing suicide for people who were leaving jail detention.” —Lauren Weinstock, Clinical Psychologist and Lead Researcher of a Brown University study.
Researchers who tested therapy and follow-up support for people incarcerated in Rhode Island and Michigan saw suicide attempts drop by 55% after release. The researchers wanted to answer this question: “Could providing trained therapists and structured suicide-prevention support to people while they’re incarcerated reduce their risk of suicidal behavior after they return to the community?”
According to Weinstock, there is decades of research that has focused on high-risk individuals within healthcare settings, but this large group of incarcerated persons has been overlooked. She added, “We want to reach the people at highest risk in an effort to support them, and help them, and prevent suicide. And much of that research has focused on the healthcare system. But what we realized is that we are still missing a substantial portion of people who are at high risk for suicide. And then the question became for us, ‘Where should we be looking?’”
A study co-authored by Weinstock and published on May 10, 2024, at JAMA Network Open, Vol. 7, No. 5, hinted at the answer to “where” the researchers should be looking. The findings of that study revealed that 7.1 million adults in the United States were released from incarceration in 2019, and “nearly 20% of suicides occurred among those who were released from jail in the past year and 7% were by those in their second year of jail release.”
Weinstock and her team partnered with Dr. Jennifer Johnson who works at Michigan State University in Flint, Michigan. The researchers launched their trial program at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections and the Genessee County Jail in Flint. A total of 800 incarcerated persons were enrolled.
Program participants were randomly assigned to two alternatives: (1) routine care or (2) safety-planning intervention. The latter incorporated a “structured session designed to help individuals identify ways to stay safe during moments of crisis.” After discharge from confinement, those in alternative (2) also received follow-up phone calls.
Weinstock explained: “The question was whether adding safety planning with telephone follow-up after release from jail could improve outcomes for individuals over and above routine care that people receive in these settings.” The results were significant and striking.
Weinstock reported: “What we found was that safety planning intervention with telephone follow-up after release from jail reduced subsequent suicide attempts by a rate of 55%.” The heart of the safety-planning intervention was simply one session emphasizing strategies to employ when suicidal urges arise.
During that session, program participants “work through practical strategies, from distraction techniques to asking for support from others.” Weinstock said those strategies are “[j]ust to buy some time to allow those suicidal urges to pass, because we know that oftentimes suicidal urges can be very brief.” And apparently, continuity of care is an important factor. Those in the trial intervention also received a follow-up phone call from a clinician they met while incarcerated.
“That phone follow-up I think, was really important because this is, again, a time where people tend to fall through the cracks in our systems of care. Getting a phone call from a person who’s expressing care and support … can make a really big difference in connecting them to the care that they need,” Weinstock said in an interview with Ocean State Media.
Sources: Ocean State Media, JAMA Network
[Note to Readers: If you are experiencing suicidal ideation speak with someone right away. We need you. Our lives have a hole without you. When I was 17, my friend Jorel took his life. I’m now 62 and I still am not over it. Please stay with us and help us through all this crazy shit.]
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