HERLab selected to participate as site for a national center to prevent suicide

The HERLab (CHA) and the Cambridge Police Department have been chosen to participate in an innovative national research center designed to help individuals at risk for suicide. The National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention Center, which involves more than 100 stakeholders, 30 investigators, and more than a dozen institutions, is being funded by a $15 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

CHA has worked closely with Cambridge Police to divert police-involved individuals in mental health crisis from the justice system into the mental health system. This new research project will examine those interventions and assess data from Cambridge Police, CHA, and the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office to evaluate health and criminal justice outcomes of the city’s most vulnerable populations. It will also explore the impact of adding a “Systems Navigator” position to conduct rapid mental health and suicide risk assessment and help police and healthcare staff link individuals to needed services and ensure a continuum of care.

“This line of research has important public health significance,” said Ben Cook, PhD, MPH, director of the Health Equity Research Lab at CHA. “By integrating multiple systems of care (health care and police), this intervention has the potential to improve police response, clinical care, and coordination across multiple community sectors with the aim to mitigate suicide in a high-risk justice population.”

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