{"id":17923,"date":"2024-09-15T19:35:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-15T18:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=17923"},"modified":"2024-10-22T20:17:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T19:17:01","slug":"california-needs-to-do-more-to-prevent-suicide-among-native-americans-tribal-leaders-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2024\/09\/california-needs-to-do-more-to-prevent-suicide-among-native-americans-tribal-leaders-say\/","title":{"rendered":"California needs to do more to prevent suicide among Native Americans, tribal leaders say"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Suicide rate among Native American population is second-highest in the state<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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By\u00a0Beau Yarbrough<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0byarbrough@scng.com<\/a>\u00a0| San Bernardino Sun<\/div>\n
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In 2020, Assemblymember James C. Ramos, D-San Bernardino,\u00a0celebrated the creation of the state\u2019s new Office of Suicide Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Four years later, more work remains to be done, he and other Native American leaders say.<\/p>\n

Despite\u00a0making up only 3.6% of Californians in 2020<\/a>, American Indians or Alaskan Natives made up 9.8% of those who killed themselves that same year,\u00a0according to the California Department of Public Health<\/a>. Nationally, Native American populations are more than twice as likely as Black or White populations to die due to deaths of \u201cdespair\u201d \u2014\u00a0suicide<\/a>,\u00a0drug overdoses<\/a>\u00a0and alcoholic liver disease \u2014 according to a\u00a0UCLA Health survey released in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, July 17, Ramos \u2014 author of \u00a0Assembly Bill 2112<\/a>, which created the Office of Suicide Prevention \u2014 gathered with representatives of\u00a0Inland Empire tribes<\/a>\u00a0at the Morongo Band of Mission Indians\u2019 Tribal Council Chambers in a\u00a0roundtable<\/a>\u00a0to discuss the need for more help preventing suicide among\u00a0Native Americans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had incidents where young members have taken their lives,\u201d said Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians Chairperson Isaiah Vivanco. \u201cLife is so precious, and when we have young ones taking their own lives, it has to be (a warning), it has to be an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tribal leaders said that, too often, health professionals don\u2019t understand native culture, and end up pushing those who need help away.<\/p>\n

\u201cCulture is healing as well,\u201d said Soboba tribal secretary Monica Herrera. \u201cSometimes (mental health) facilities don\u2019t recognize that (patients) are Native American and that sweat lodge or praying or some type of cultural healing is not encouraged. \u2018We can\u2019t take you to the sweat lodge; it\u2019s against our policies.\u2019\u00a0\u201c<\/p>\n

California health officials vowed to do better at the meeting.\u201cOur traditional behavioral health system has woefully failed Native American populations,\u201d California Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary of Behavioral Health Stephanie Welch told the tribal leaders. \u201cThere are high rates of suicide, there are high rates of self-harm as I have heard in the room, and there are high rates of drug misuse and overdose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Native communities aren\u2019t using existing mental and behavioral health resources, state officials reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see statistics around low utilization of behavioral health services, that\u2019s on us,\u201d Welch said. \u201cBehavioral health services has not traditionally reflected the acceptance of (the) cultural, linguistic and geographical diversity that\u2019s needed to address the needs of Native Americans communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The department knows that it isn\u2019t reaching many groups that need its mental health services and has embarked on a new initiative,\u00a0\u201cMental Healthcare for All,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that truly means all of us and it needs to be inclusive of California Native Americans,\u201d Welch said. \u201cEverybody should have access to affordable, equitable, and most importantly, culturally responsive mental health and substance use disorder (treatment).\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the effort, the state is investing in mobile clinics to bring services directly to tribal communities.<\/p>\n

Within five years, Welch said, her agency hopes to have culturally appropriate mental health counselors available on mental health crisis lines in the state. In the meantime, her team is examining gaps in existing services when it comes to meeting the needs of California\u2019s Native American population, along with identifying barriers that prevent the community from accessing healthcare options.<\/p>\n

More mental health resources should be on the way.<\/p>\n

Voters approved\u00a0Proposition 1<\/a>\u00a0in the March 5 primary election this year, authorizing a nearly $6.4 billion bond for facilities for mental health or substance abuse treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure that California\u2019s first people are not left out of that equation,\u201d Ramos said.<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2024\/08\/04\/california-needs-to-do-more-to-prevent-suicide-among-native-americans-tribal-leaders-say\/<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suicide rate among Native American population is second-highest in the state By\u00a0Beau Yarbrough\u00a0|\u00a0byarbrough@scng.com\u00a0| San Bernardino Sun UPDATED:\u00a0August 4, 2024 In 2020, Assemblymember James C. Ramos, D-San Bernardino,\u00a0celebrated the creation of the state\u2019s new Office of Suicide Prevention. Four years later, more work remains to be done, he and other Native American leaders say. Despite\u00a0making up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,63,68,119,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction","category-brain-and-behaviour","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-prevalence","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}