Oakland Community Health Network Looks To Educate The Community, Reduce Suicide Rate

Southfield (CW50) - One person in the United States takes their own life every 13 minutes, and one person takes their own life n the world every 40 seconds. Suicide is an epidemic, and organizations like the Oakland Community Health Network find ways to help educate people on mental health and suicide in order to reduce the climbing rates.

Oakland Community Health Network is an epicenter for access to behavioral health services. The center trains and educates the community on how to approach someone in their life they see exhibiting the warning signs of suicide.

There have been a lot of reports of increased suicide rates during the pandemic, but there was also an increase in the use of suicide prevention hotlines, as well as an increase in people discussing mental health.

Dana Lasenby, CEO of OCHN says, "If anything positive came out of the whole pandemic, people are bringing attention to mental health. And we're really able to confront stigma."

There's a lot of shame that the world shows to people who open up about their mental health, but the more we talk about it and show that it's not a weakness, then the stigma can be broken.

Lasenby joins Lisa Germani on Community Connect to talk about suicide and mental health, and what services people can access to seek help and treatment.

"If your heart hurts in an emotional and psychological way, you need to give someone a call and we're here to answer that call."

Learn more about OCHN at OaklandCHN.org

Watch Community Connect, Saturday at 7am on CW50