Policy

Statutes

Summary of Texas Statutes Regarding Suicide

The Texas Suicide Prevention Council and Mental Health America of Texas have published a list of Texas laws (statutes) that relate to suicide prevention, services, or reporting. The statutes are organized by subject, with a short explanation of what the law does and, when relevant, what suicide prevention advocates should know about that section of the law.

HB 1386 (Texas)

Relating to the public health threat presented by youth suicide and the qualifications of certain persons serving as marriage and family therapists in school districts

Topics

1. Link to HB 1386 Bill
2. Summary of HB 1386
3. The Best Practices Registry List
4. Statement about how to apply to be on the Best Practices Registry list
5. FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions HB 1386
6. Resources
7. Texas Contacts

Link to HB1386

Summary of HB 1386

HB 1386 (Rep. Coleman/Sen. Ellis) Relating to the public health threat presented by youth suicide and the qualifications of certain personsserving as marriage and family therapists in school districts

The Best Practice Registry (BPR) list of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center

Statement about how to apply to be on the Best Practices Registry list

The 1386 Implementation Workgroup has decided that there should be acoordinated message coming from all workgroup members, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Department of State Health Services that would read:

• Thank you for your interest in being on our Texas state list of Suicide Prevention Programs. Currently we have the following criteria for submission to be on the list:
  • If you are a Vendor: Please follow the guidelines on the Suicide Prevention Resource Centers Best Practice Registry or Adherence to Standards to be on the list. Once you have the Best Practice Registry (BPR) designation of I or III from SPRC then we will gladly put your product/ program on the Texas list. To apply please follow the directions on www.sprc.org. Specific instructions are located at:
    http://www2.sprc.org/bpr/index.
    Note: Suicide Best Practice Registry of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center's screen page example is shown below.
  • If you are a school or school district that has developed your own suicide prevention program then please bear with us as we develop the standards for applying and being listed on our statewide best practice-based list. At this point we are working on these and expect to have them defined within 2012. Stay tuned for more information.

FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

Resources

• Links to the State and National Toolkits
  • Texas
    www.TexasSuicidePrevention.org.
    Look for Publication, upper right of the page
  • National - After a Suicide: Toolkit for Schools
    http://www.sprc.org/library/AfteraSuicideToolkitforSchools.pdf
• Copy of American Association of Suicidology Guidelines for Schools
  www.suicidology.org
• Early Warning Data System Tool, SEDL
  http://txcc.sedl.org/resources/ewst/
• Research-Based Guidelines and Practices for School-Based Suicide Prevention,  D. Kimokeo, 2006
  http://ican-ncfr.org/documents/Schoold. Suicide.pdf
• School Suicide Prevention Accreditation, American Association of Suicidology http://SPRC.ORG/sites/sprc.org/files/bpr/School%20Suicide%20
  Prevention%20Accreditation%20Program%20BPR%20fact%20sheet%2010-1-10.pdf
• Youth Suicide Prevention - School based Guide Checklists, University of South Florida http://SPRC.ORG/sites/sprc.org/files/bpr/YouthSuicidePreventionSchoolbasedGuideChecklists.pdf
• Youth Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention Guidelines, a Resource for School Personnel
  http://SPRC.ORG/sites/sprc.org/files/bpr/Maine_BPR_FactSheet.pdf
• Suicide Prevention Resource Center Resources:
  • The Role of High School Mental Health Providers in Preventing Suicide
  • The Role of High School Teachers in Preventing Suicide

Texas Contacts

Jenna Heise, Suicide Prevention Coordinator, Texas Department of State Health Services, jenna.heise@dshs.state.tx.us

Local Suicide Prevention Coordinators at Behavioral Health Centers

Local Community Suicide Prevention Coalition Contacts

National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is the public-private partnership advancing the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Read more about the Action Alliance, our vision & mission, as well as major initiatives here.