Mohave County suicide review urges stigma reduction, gatekeeper training after 80 deaths in 2024

Jessica Willard, a community health education specialist with Mohave County Department of Public Health, presented the county's suicide mortality review findings for 2024. She explained that the county reviews all resident suicides and uses death certificates and medical examiner reports to inform recommendations. "73 percent of cases involved a firearm," she said, underscoring lethal‑means safety as a primary prevention focus.

Willard summarized the county's prevention recommendations across health care, criminal justice, crisis response and community sectors: improving access to appropriate mental‑health services, increasing clinician and gatekeeper training, expanding reentry supports for recently incarcerated individuals and reducing stigma to encourage help seeking. She noted the SMR operates under state law that established the suicide review process and that data sharing and confidentiality rules limit some public disclosure. Board members asked about targeted strategies for men—who represented a high share of deaths—and about cross‑border data gaps; Willard said many neighboring counties have their own reviews and the county's SMR is constrained to cases meeting state review criteria.