Above: SYFS is encouraging struggling residents to check out their Coffee Talks about Mental Health Services (for emergencies and for avoiding emergencies) and Suicide Prevention. (images cropped/edited from flyers)
Southborough Youth and Family Services is using Coffee Talk to reach out to any readers who need help.
You aren’t alone.
SYFS’ Director Sarah Cassell tells me the agency has been seeing a lot of mental health emergencies popping up.
She asked me to share relevant episodes of their regular Coffee Talk along with some other details and links. The specific focuses are suicide prevention and what to expect with accessing services for mental health (for emergencies and for avoiding emergencies).
Suicide Prevention (click here to watch)
In the suicide prevention episode, we reference a couple of trainings that we encourage viewers to take. I have included links to those trainings below. Mental Health First Aid is a lengthier training and includes information about common mental health diagnoses as well as information on suicide prevention whereas QPR focuses solely on suicide prevention. Like CPR, the more people in our community that are trained in suicide prevention, the more likely someone experiencing an emergency will receive potentially life saving measures. It’s also critical that we all learn the signs of suicidality and what to do. As family members, friends, and colleagues, we are more likely to be the first person to notice early warning signs.
Suicide Prevention Trainings
Accessing Emergency Mental Health Services (click here to watch)
On the episode about accessing emergency mental health services, we reference mobile crisis intervention, specifically Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) through Advocates which covers the Southborough Community. I have provided the phone number for PES below. Prior to the pandemic, the emergency mental health system was experiencing strain and COVID has made that worse with decreased capacity and higher levels of need. It does appear that some capacity restrictions are decreasing but families may still experience challenges. We do not want to deter families and individuals from seeking the emergency care that they need but we do want to prepare them for what to expect.
Psychiatric Emergency Services
(800) 640-5432
Follow Up Episodes on Mental Health Services:
Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI) (click here to watch)
This episode talks about some services that families can access to avert getting to the place of needing emergency services.
Interface Referral Service (click here to watch)
This episode talks about the new service available to the town that assists residents with finding a mental health provider.
The outreach isn’t directly related to Mental Health Awareness Month. However, SYFS has been conducting a lot of MHAM outreach in an effort to destigmatize seeking help.
As I previously shared, you can watch their MHAM focused Coffee Talk here.
You can also watch any of their over Coffee Talks on their Facebook page or on the SAM YouTube page.
