Fairfax County, along with the rest of Northern Virginia, has come together to make a stand against mental health issues and suicide.
As of early 2014, Arlington, Prince William, Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, along with the City of Alexandria, have formed a coalition to implement the new “Northern Virginia Suicide Prevention Plan.”
This plan encompasses every aspect of the community, including families, social media outlets and the public school systems.
“There’s a group called ‘Partnership for a Healthy Fairfax’.Last year they put out our community health improvement plan and they suggested we create a suicide prevention plan, so we started,” said Jesse Ellis, a Prevention Manager for the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services.
The Department of Neighborhood and Community Services is just one of the nearly 20 groups contributing to the NOVA plan. Others include Fairfax County Health Department, FCPS, Crisislink, Cornerstones, the Josh Anderson Foundation, the Angel Fund and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
In order to fund the plan, Fairfax County received a grant from the state of Virginia, but the grant required the plan to encompass an entire region rather than just one county, and so it spread. The addition of these other areas brings NOVA together as one to work towards a healthier community, but the expansion also brought about challenges.

With a combined total of over 2.2 million citizens to address, the groups involved had to create a comprehensive, flexible plan that would cover all areas of the population.
“The plan itself is written so [that] for the most part, the strategies are very broad,” said Ellis.
“There are a lot of ways it can be incorporated and a lot of levels it can be incorporated at.”
As of now, the plan addresses four main strategic directions: Healthy and Empowered Individuals, Families and Communities; Clinical and Community Prevention Services; Treatment and Support Services; Data, Analysis and Evaluation. In working towards these four main directions at every level in the community, the architects of the plan hope to create a healthier environment for all. One in which mental health problems are truly understood, not stigmatized.
As one of the major areas this plan is aimed toward, public schools will be soon be experiencing the changes that this plan is aiming to implement as soon as possible.
“There are six factors that they have seen that really make a difference when it comes to teens, [and] we have some areas we can work on in those six factors,” said WS Principal Mike Mukai. “Having role models, peer relationships, interest in activities; so many things we could do as a part of school.”
Public schools will also be requiring teachers to participate in training that covers the signs and symptoms of mental health problems and suicide. The online training leads them through various scenarios and lets them determine which response is best, leading to different outcomes so that they can see how their actions affect students. This online training provided by Kognito is available to anyone, youth and adults alike, for free on the Fairfax County website. Other additions include an increase of information in an effort to de-stigmatize mental health and suicide as well as ease of access to help, such as therapy.
“There’s a thing that love doesn’t conquer all,” said sophomore administrator Becky Brandt. “You think you can fix everything, but you can’t. [You need to know] when can you really listen to somebody, when can you be a sounding board and when do you need to get professional help?”
As for the finishing and implementation of the NOVA Suicide Prevention Plan, the timeline looks promising and the policies will be present in our community soon.
“[The project will] be ongoing. We’re always looking for new partners,” said Ellis. “We have some really good initiatives in place we’re working on. Hopefully in the next year we’ll have everything up and running.”
In regards to WS and the rest of Fairfax County Public Schools, some of the ideas of the plan are already present, but positive changes are expected in the next year.
“So far it’s been what we do afterwards,” said Mukai. “It’s time for a more affirmative plan.”