Mississippi
Mississippi suicide prevention plans and initiatives
Mississippi’s Department of Mental Health (DMH) facilitates the statewide youth suicide prevention campaign entitled Shatter the Silence: Suicide, The Secret You Shouldn’t Keep, facilitates gatekeeper training, and distributes educational packets and presentations. In early 2019, DMH developed several versions of the Shatter the Silence presentation to target additional groups and populations, including youth, adults, older adults, law enforcement, military, faith-based, and correctional officers. In 2016, the Mississippi Suicide Prevention Workgroup was formed to develop a formal statewide suicide prevention plan, which is updated every few years, with a progress report released annually. The Mississippi Suicide Prevention Plan: FY 2024-2027 was published by DMH; see the FY2023 End of Year Report for the most recent update on the efforts taken to combat suicide in the state during the past fiscal year.
Mississippi 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)
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