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Means Safety

What is means safety?

This refers to reducing access to objects or items (“means”) by which people die by suicide. Means could include pills, firearms, or sharp objects. This is an important tool for reducing suicide risk.

Why does this work? Butler-Suicide-Prevention-Means-Safety

  • Suicide attempts are often impulsive. That is, many attempts occur with very little forethought. A person has an impulse to hurt themselves and uses the means that they have immediately at hand – such as firearms and pills.
  • By making it harder to access the firearms, pills, or other means, we extend the time between the impulse and the behavior. This gives more time for the person to reconsider, or for someone else to intervene.
  • Research shows that reducing access to lethal means prevents suicide and that people do not simply substitute a different method.

 

How can we reduce access to lethal means?

  • Families can make sure that firearms are safely locked away so that teens or people at risk for suicide do not have access to them. If there is a person at risk for suicide in your home, consider removing the firearms from the home entirely.
    For more information about safer ways to store firearms click here >>
  • Similarly, medications can be locked up in medication bags or medicine lockboxes. Alternatively, keep only a small amount in your home, or only a small amount unlocked and available. ED data on recent suicide attempts by teens in RI show that they are ingesting common household medications, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen. Prescription opioids and benzodiazepines can be very dangerous as well. 
    Learn more on how to dispose of unused medications >>
  • Any RI citizen can advocate for nets on bridges. Data show that these nets save lives.
    Learn More >>

Data Specific to Rhode Island

Data from the Department of Health show a large increase in numbers of suicide-related ED visits amongst children younger than 18 for March and April 2021 when compared to previous years. As mentioned above, many of the attempts made by teens are by ingestion of household medications.

Counts Under 18

Resources

For more information, here are some great websites with additional resources:

  • Comprehensive information about means safety  Learn More >>
  • A free online version of CALM: Counseling on Access to Lethal Means. This award-winning course teaches healthcare providers ways to talk to their patients about access to lethal means. Learn More >>
  • A site that will walk a patient through decision-making for means safety. Learn More >>

The Providence Center
24-hour Behavioral Health
Emergency Line

Call (401) 274-7111

 

 

24/7 Telephone Assistance

Providence Center crisis clinicians provide 24/7 telephone assistance for adults and children in crisis. Providence Center clinicians will triage the situation and recommend options for treatment.

 

 

Consultation Services

This line also serves to provide consultation services to other providers seeking guidance or resources in relation to a patient in their care or their general practice. Providence Center clinicians can advise on topics such as discerning level of risk, de-escalation techniques, safety planning, and navigating community resources.

Crisis Evaluations

  • Crisis Evaluations are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. A Providence Center clinician will respond to the crisis to evaluate children or adults for safety and will facilitate treatment at the appropriate level of care.
  • Outside of normal business hours, assessments are possible on a limited basis for people in the Providence area. 
  • A referral can be made by calling the 24-hour emergency line listed above. The clinician answering will dispatch a clinician for an in-person assessment if that resource is available and indicated.
  •  If there is no in-person clinician response available but the level of risk rises to the level of a police wellness check then the clinician will call the police department where the client is physically located, explain the nature of the behavioral health emergency and request the person be transported to the hospital if indicated.
This information was developed by the Care New England Suicide Prevention Workgroup, which includes membership across Care New England operating units.