OLYMPIA–Last Thursday, the Washington State Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) presented the Allies in Action State Award to Rep. Tina Orwall for her continued leadership for expanding suicide prevention and mental health initiatives across Washington state.
The award was presented to Orwall at her Des Moines office by Cristi Comes, AFSP-Washington State, Board of Directors Vice Chair, and Grace Finch, AFSP-Washington State Area Director.
“I am honored to receive this award and grateful to work on suicide prevention with a dedicated team of community leaders, providers and survivors, because we know that early intervention can save lives,” said Orwall, D-Des Moines.
Allies in Action is an annual awards program sponsored by AFSP whereby members of Congress, federal agencies, other mental health organizations, and state representatives who have done exemplary work in preventing suicide are recognized for their actions.
Orwall’s legislative work on suicide prevention over the past five years includes prime sponsoring or cosponsoring the following bills:
2011: House Bill 1163
Primarily addressed bullying in schools. Included mental health and suicide prevention in health and fitness learning standards for students and provided funding for youth suicide prevention.
2012: House Bill 2366
Required mental health care professionals to complete training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management every six years beginning January 2014. Commissioned a study by DOH on how evidence-based training affects all licensed health care professionals’ ability to identify, refer, treat, and manage patients with suicidal ideation.
2013: House Bill 1336
Written to improve schools’ capacity to prevent student suicide. Required ESDs to build capacity to train on suicide. Required school district crisis plans, suicide content in teachers’ Issues of Abuse course and 3-hour training for school nurses, counselors, psychologists and social workers.
2014: House Bill 2315
Added the requirement that other healthcare professionals–nurses, doctors, PAs, DOs, etc. –complete one-time training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management. Required DOH to develop a model list of approved suicide training programs, and to convene a steering committee and develop a statewide plan for suicide prevention.
2015: House Bill 1138
Created task force on mental health and suicide prevention at WA higher education institutions.
2015: House Bill 1424
Requires the Department of Health to revisit the list of trainings created under House Bill 2315, set evaluation criteria, and determine which training programs belong on the list. After July 2017 all training health care providers get for certification must be on the list.