Jacksonville, FL – LSF Health Systems received a 5-year, $2 million grant from the federal Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to continue and expand its successful LSF Zero Suicide
Initiative that focuses on veterans and adults in underserved and minority populations.
The LSF Zero Suicide Project will expand LSF Health Systems’ 2020 pilot initiative that focused on veterans
and adults in high-risk, underserved and minority populations.
The LSF Zero Suicide Project implements the program’s framework through a network of 17 area nonprofit
mental health service providers. It includes an integrated system of suicide care, referral, suicide prevention
gatekeeper training, suicide prevention therapies training, linkages to treatment and transition services to
effectively intervene in the lives of individuals at risk of suicide.
LSF Health Systems, with the Mental Health Recourse Center, successfully piloted the Link to Life suicide
prevention program in 2020 through a SAMHSA Covid-19 Emergency Response Suicide Prevention grant.
Link to Life will continue under the new grant as a best practice model for intervention and care coordination.
Project goals include: reducing suicides in Jacksonville; training clinical and non-clinical healthcare workforce
using data from a workforce survey to ensure providers have access to the evidence-based trainings; quickly
identifying and assessing individuals who have been determined to be at risk for suicide; engaging all
screened individuals at risk for suicide and developing a safety plan with counseling; treating individuals at
risk with the most effective evidence-based practices; transitioning individuals using safety plans that will be
monitored monthly to achieve a reduction in suicide risks; and improving the system of care by developing a
strategic plan to identify gaps, disparities, and barriers experienced by minority and vulnerable populations.
Based on best practices from the Duval project, LSF Health Systems’ Zero Suicide Oversight Steering Council
will oversee the development of a manual detailing how to implement the Zero Suicide framework systemwide
and replicate the Link to Life suicide prevention care team in the other 22 counties served by LSF in
North Florida.
LSF Health Systems is one of seven behavioral health Managing Entities contracted by the Florida Department of Children and Families
to manage the state-funded system of behavioral health care for people who face poverty and are without insurance. LSF Health
Systems serves a 23-county region in North Florida. For more information, visit lsfhealthsystems.org
