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| Suicide reduction programs |
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| 2003 Suicide Prevention Guidelines for Virginia by the Virginia State Board of Education [22]. | Provides guidelines for school personnel when they suspect a student is at risk for suicide:
(i) Responding to the suicidal child
(ii) Characteristics to identify potentially suicidal students.
(iii) Criteria to assess the suicide risks of students
(iv) Suicide prevention strategies
(v) Imminent suicide warning signs |
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| 2010 Virginia Suicide Prevention Resources Directory [23]. | The directory provides a list of national, state, and local resources that are available when people are impacted by suicide:
(i) Community mental health centers
(ii) Crisis hotlines
(iii) Youth hotlines
(iv) Statewide mental health facilities
(v) Coalitions to educate the public in suicide prevention and intervention
(vi) Survivors of suicide loss support groups
(vii) Veterans services
(viii) Local suicide prevention websites
(ix) Local mental health centers |
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| Suicide Prevention Resource Center and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention [24]. | Provides an essential skills training course to help clinicians recognize clients at risk for suicide. There are several components to this course including two online courses, self-paced modules, and a two-day face-to-face workshop.
The Virginia Department of Health has recognized the importance in clinician recognition of depression in suicide prevention. In 2013, the Virginia Department of Health held three different two-day training sessions to help clinicians recognize and respond to depression. |
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| Virginia Association of Community Services Boards (VACSB) [25]. | The Community Services Boards (CSBs) provide publicly funded services for mental health, intellectual disability, and substance abuse. Community service boards provide preadmission screening services 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. In Virginia, there are 39 CSBs that provide mental health crisis care.
To improve the quality of services, VACSB hosts one public policy and one legislative and one professional development conference each year. |
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| Virginia Department of Health [26]. | QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer):
1-2-hour gateway training for the public to bring awareness to suicide and inform community members about warning signs for suicidal behaviors.
SafeTALK (Suicide Alertness for Everyone; Tell, Ask, Listen and Keep Safe):
Teach participants to recognize suicidal persons and connect them with suicide intervention community resources.
ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training):
Two-day course to help caregivers recognize risk for suicide and intervene to prevent immediate harm.
RRSR (Recognizing and Responding to Suicide Risk: Essential Skills for Mental Health Clinicians):
2-day training course to establish core competencies that mental health professionals need in order to manage suicide risk
RRSR-PC (Recognizing and Responding to Suicide Risk: Essential Skills for Primary Care Providers):
Provides 90-minute training on suicide risk assessment to physicians, nurses/nurse practitioners, and physician assistants |
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| Firearm regulation |
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| 1989 Virginia Firearms Transaction Program (VFTP) [27]. | (i) Regulates firearm purchase
(ii) Decision regarding the sale of all firearms based upon criminal history record information (CHRI)
(iii) Firearm purchaser is scanned in 5 different national and state databases:
(1) Virginia’s wanted and missing persons files and protective orders
(2) Virginia’s criminal history record files
(3) Virginia’s database of adjudications of legal incompetence and incapacity
(4) Involuntary commitments to mental health institutions for inpatient or outpatient treatment
(5) National Instant Criminal Background Check System
(iv) Provides further regulations and guidelines for the sellers of firearms |
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| 2009 Virginia State Police [28]. | Provides an eligibility test for firearm purchase. A history of violence or (since 2009) involuntary admission to a psychiatric facility may prohibit ownership of a firearm. Provisionally, the firearm purchase test does not directly take into account a history of suicidal ideations or any prior suicide attempts. The test is available online at http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms_PurchaseEligibility.shtm
***Adding a brief, concise, mental health evaluation to the firearm purchase eligibility test may help identify those at an increased risk of suicide |
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| Narcotic regulation |
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| Virginia’s Online Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) [29]. | The PMP provides a database history of schedule II–IV prescriptions with a mission of promoting appropriate use of controlled substances. Registered users can access the database and determine if a patient is abusing controlled substances.
As of 2011, Virginia is part of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Prescription Monitoring Program InterConnect (PMPi), which comprises several states, which share prescription drug information. |
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