North Carolina
North Carolina suicide prevention plans and initiatives
North Carolina’s statewide suicide prevention efforts are housed within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Public Health Chronic Disease and Injury Section (DPH/CDI), Injury and Violence Prevention Branch (IVP), including a Youth Suicide Prevention Program and the "It’s Ok 2 Ask" media campaign website. In September 2020, NC DHHS was one of 11 state recipients awarded funding of $8.5 million per year for five years through the CDC’s Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Program (CSP). Through the grant, IVP aims to address family, community, and societal issues that contribute to suicide through data-informed prevention activities, and the state’s CSP program focuses on reaching men, veterans, those residing in rural communities, and youth ages 10-18 with increased risk of suicide in North Carolina.
In 2012, the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services (DMH/DD/SAS) worked with the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM) to develop the Suicide Prevention and Intervention Plan: A Report of the NCIOM Task Force on Suicide Prevention and Intervention, which focuses on mental health treatment and the role of multiple medical care facilities to reduce suicide contemplations, attempts, and deaths across the state. In 2015, staff members from IVP, the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Department of Health Behavior, and DMH/DD/SAS collaborated on the North Carolina Suicide Prevention Plan, which is meant to complement the 2012 plan.
North Carolina laws
Key:
- Required by law
- Encouraged by law
- No law in place
Crisis lines and 988 implementation
- Addresses 988 infrastructure and provides for telecom user fee
- Addresses 988 infrastructure but does not include telecom user fee
- 988 law limited to creating an exploratory commission, advisory committee, or task force
Mental health parity
- Public health plans (e.g., Medicaid) regularly submit parity compliance analyses to state regulators
- Private health plans (individual and group) regularly submit parity compliance analyses to state regulators
K – 12 school suicide prevention
- Inclusion of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and/or other crisis line(s) on student ID cards
- Student allowances for excused mental health absences
- School personnel must report student suicide risk to a parent and/or guardian
- Suicide prevention and/or mental health training for certain school personnel, annual
- Suicide prevention and/or mental health training for certain school personnel, not annual
- Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention policies/programming
- Student education on suicide prevention
Health professional training in suicide assessment, treatment and management
- Mental health professionals receive regular training
- Mental health professionals receive one time training
- Medical/surgical professionals receive regular training
- Medical/surgical professionals receive one time training
Conversion therapy bans
- Prohibits licensed/board certified mental health providers from engaging in conversion therapy with minors under 18 years of age
- Prohibits licensed/board certified mental health providers from engaging in conversion therapy with vulnerable adults
- Prohibits use of state funds for any purpose related to conversion therapy (e.g., conducting, making a referral for, or extending health benefits coverage for)
1
University and college campus suicide prevention
- Inclusion of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and/or other crisis line(s) on student ID cards
- Students receive information on available mental health and/or suicide prevention services and/or resources
- Adoption of suicide prevention/awareness policy or program