Page 6 - Florida Suicide Interagnecy Action Plan 3-2-2020 (002)

Florida Special Populations

Caregivers/ persons with disabilities
The Agency for Persons with Disabilities State Office First responders/ law enforcement
(APD) joined the Suicide Prevention Coordinating First responders and law enforcement are exposed to
Council in 2019 to focus on suicide prevention. trauma and stress repeatedly. Although Florida-specific,
Although caregivers and persons with disabilities are suicide data is unavailable for first responders and law
not high-risk populations nationally, it is important for enforcement, among known data, 40 first responders/law
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Florida to look at these populations due to suicide- enforcement officers lost their lives to suicide since 2016 .
related risks associated with both caregiving and poor
health ailments. Since March 2017, there have been Individuals who have experienced a disaster
28 recorded suicide attempts from caregivers or Most research conducted on suicide post-disaster finds no
persons with disabilities. However, the data for this increases in suicide rates immediately after disasters.
population is limited and efforts to improve data However, suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts are likely to
collection are ongoing. emerge several months after a disaster.
The Florida Department of Health is responding to the
Youth potential link between post-disaster and suicide risk
In 2018 there were 31 deaths by suicide for youth ages through use of the Centers for Disease Control’s
10-14 and 117 for ages 15-19. According to the 2017 “Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency
High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 41.1 percent Response (CASPER). The primary goals of CASPER are
of high school females report feelings of sadness or to rapidly obtain information about the needs of an affected
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hopelessness. These youth are more likely to think community, and to assess changes in needs during the
about attempting suicide and plan how they will response or recovery period.
attempt. High school females are more likely to attempt
suicide than high school males in Florida.

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