Do you know or love someone who suffers with a mental health condition? Have you lost a loved one to suicide or overdose? Are you in recovery from a behavioral health disorder and want to be a part of improving services in Missouri?
Join us for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Advocacy Day and make Missouri the state that supports better mental health!
Why is suicide prevention and recovery from mental health and substance use disorders so important for young people?
- Suicide and overdose are the two leading causes of death for college aged students
- 50% of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14 and 75% by age 24
- 10 years is the average delay between onset of symptoms and intervention
- Over 90% of the people who die by suicide have a diagnosable and treatable mental health condition, although that condition is not recognized or treated
- 37% of students with a mental health condition age 14 and older drop out of school- the highest dropout rate of any disability group
- 70% of youth in state and local juvenile justice systems have a mental illness
- 195,000 Americans died in 2020-2021 due to overdoses and alcoholism, the highest number ever recorded
- In the United States, one person completes suicide every 11.14 minutes, resulting in over 47,000 suicides each year
- Today, one in every 10 Americans over the age of 12 are addictedto alcohol/drugs totaling more than 23.5 million U.S. citizens
- More than 90% of people who have an addiction started to drink alcohol or use drugs before they were 18 years old
- The United States has some of the worst mental health-related outcomes, including the highest suicide rate and second-highest drug-related death rate
Missouri Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Advocacy Day
February 22, 2023 8:00 am – 4:30 pm CST
Missouri Capitol Building, Senate side rotunda
201 West Capitol Avenue, Jefferson City, MO, USA
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 19, 2023
Hosted by Aspire Advocates for Behavioral Health and the AFSP Missouri and Greater Kansas Chapter, the Missouri State Capitol Day event seeks to bring together passionate volunteers to advocate for state policy changes that will improve mental health and prevent suicide. We will meet with our state legislators as part of the event to:
- Share with them why behavioral health and suicide prevention is important to YOU and to your community
- Educate them about the work being done in your community to prevent suicide and increase access to behavioral health services
- Teach them what more must be done to improve behavioral health and prevent suicide.
The event will include a brief training session on the basics of an effective advocacy visit and current policy issues impacting behavioral health care and suicide prevention. Following, advocates will have the opportunity to attend meetings with state legislators that will be scheduled ahead of time. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
A block of hotel rooms has been reserved for attendees at the Baymont Inn & Suites (319 West Miller St Jefferson City, 573-636-5231). Advocates wishing to come down on February 21, 2023 must call the hotel and ask for a room under the room block name of AFSP Advocacy. Doubling up would be appreciated for the advocates. We have 20 total rooms in the room block 12 Double Queen Standard and 8 King Standard. The room block will open now and reservations must be made by February 17, 2023.
Questions? Contact us.
SB397 has been filed by Senator Razer! Join us at The Capitol on February 22 to support this bill!
Join us in our work on SB397, which will create a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Task Force. Our goal with this bill is to improve access to DBT for individuals struggling with mental health and substance use disorders. We are hoping to also include in SB397’s language a requirement for insurance companies to cover all components of DBT. Right now, DBT is a cash pay service for most Missourians.
DBT is an effective therapy to treat suicidality, substance use disorder, emotion dysregulation, PTSD, major depressive disorder, ADHD and more. Learn more about DBT here.
