Subdivision 1. Suicide prevention plan. The commissioner of health shall refine, coordinate, and implement the state's suicide prevention plan using an evidence-based, public health approach for a life span plan focused on awareness and prevention, in collaboration with the commissioner of human services; the commissioner of public safety; the commissioner of education; the chancellor of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities; the president of the University of Minnesota; and appropriate agencies, organizations, and institutions in the community.

Subd. 2. Community-based programs. To the extent funds are appropriated for the purposes of this subdivision, the commissioner shall establish a grant program to fund:

(1) community-based programs to provide education, outreach, and advocacy services to populations who may be at risk for suicide;

(2) community-based programs that educate community helpers and gatekeepers, such as family members, spiritual leaders, coaches, and business owners, employers, and coworkers on how to prevent suicide by encouraging help-seeking behaviors;

(3) community-based programs that educate populations at risk for suicide and community helpers and gatekeepers that must include information on the symptoms of depression and other psychiatric illnesses, the warning signs of suicide, skills for preventing suicides, and making or seeking effective referrals to intervention and community resources;

(4) community-based programs to provide evidence-based suicide prevention and intervention education to school staff, parents, and students in grades kindergarten through 12, and for students attending Minnesota colleges and universities;

(5) community-based programs to provide evidence-based suicide prevention and intervention to public school nurses, teachers, administrators, coaches, school social workers, peace officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, advanced emergency medical technicians, paramedics, primary care providers, and others; and

(6) community-based, evidence-based postvention training to mental health professionals and practitioners in order to provide technical assistance to communities after a suicide and to prevent suicide clusters and contagion.

Subd. 3. Workplace and professional education. (a) The commissioner shall promote the use of employee assistance and workplace programs to support employees with depression and other psychiatric illnesses and substance abuse disorders, and refer them to services. In promoting these programs, the commissioner shall collaborate with employer and professional associations, unions, and safety councils.

(b) The commissioner shall provide training and technical assistance to local public health and other community-based professionals to provide for integrated implementation of best practices for preventing suicides.

Subd. 4. Collection and reporting suicide data. (a) The commissioner shall coordinate with federal, regional, local, and other state agencies to collect, analyze, and annually issue a public report on Minnesota-specific data on suicide and suicidal behaviors.

(b) The commissioner, in consultation with stakeholders, shall submit a detailed plan identifying proposed methods to improve the timeliness, usefulness, and quality of suicide-related data so that the data can help identify the scope of the suicide problem, identify high-risk groups, set priority prevention activities, and monitor the effects of suicide prevention programs. The report shall include how to improve external cause of injury coding, progress on implementing the Minnesota Violent Death Reporting System, how to obtain and release data in a timely manner, and how to support the use of psychological autopsies.

(c) The written report must be provided to the chairs and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate finance and policy divisions and committees with jurisdiction over health and human services by February 1, 2016.

Subd. 5. Periodic evaluations; biennial reports. To the extent funds are appropriated for the purposes of this subdivision, the commissioner shall conduct periodic evaluations of the impact of and outcomes from implementation of the state's suicide prevention plan and each of the activities specified in this section. By July 1, 2002, and July 1 of each even-numbered year thereafter, the commissioner shall report the results of these evaluations to the chairs of the policy and finance committees in the house of representatives and senate with jurisdiction over health and human services issues.

History: 1Sp2001 c 9 art 1 s 45; 2002 c 379 art 1 s 113; 2003 c 130 s 12; 1Sp2005 c 4 art 6 s 36,37; 2009 c 159 s 11,12; 2015 c 71 art 2 s 6,7