JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Dr. Christine Cauffield\u2019s 38-year medical career has reached well beyond speaking to crowded ballrooms. But inside the Florida Blue conference center in Jacksonville\u2019s Deerwood neighborhood, she summed up her stance on suicide in just a few words.<\/p>\n
\u201cA preventable public health crisis,\u201d said Dr. Cauffield, \u201cone we can all do something about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cauffield is the CEO of LSF Health Systems in Jacksonville, which hosted the first-ever \u201cZero Suicide Jax Summit,\u201d<\/a> localizing a nationwide suicide prevention movement that started in 2012.<\/a> It brought mental health experts around northeast Florida, across Florida and throughout the U.S. to share awareness and prevention resources with local leaders and business owners.<\/p>\n She told Action News Jax that, in all her years of work to turn strugglers into survivors, many people just need someone to listen.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people will then report feeling relief that someone has seen them, noticed them and heard them,\u201d Dr. Cauffield said.<\/p>\n This sense of relief is something that brought Florida senator Darryl Bouson (D – District 16) from Tampa to Jacksonville to share with the room.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll never forget the day I asked for help,\u201d Bouson said, \u201cI had seen death as freedom, thought there was no other way out.\u201d<\/p>\n Bouson says he\u2019s now been sober for more than 27 years. He shared his story of recovery from drug and alcohol addiction with Action News Jax, which he says suicidal thoughts almost cut short.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I ever forget the pain of it, if I ever forget the disconnect of it, if I ever forget the darkness of it, then I\u2019m doomed to repeat it,\u201d said Bouson.<\/p>\n The Florida Department of Health\u2019s most recent numbers<\/a> on suicide rates around the state are from 2023. That year, the department says 14 in every 100,000 Floridians took their own life, a lower number than Duval County\u2019s 16 in every 100,000 people.<\/p>\n Action News Jax found, from the Florida Department of Health\u2019s numbers, that seven of our nine local northeast Florida counties had higher suicide rates that year than the state average. Putnam County didn\u2019t just have the highest local rate, but the 9th highest rate in Florida.<\/p>\n Part of the goal of the Zero Summit Jax conference is to share mental health resources with Jacksonville-area business owners, including plaques with the number 988 inscribed onto them. 988 launched in 2022<\/a> as the three-digit nationwide suicide and crisis prevention hotline, which can receive texts and calls 24\/7 to anyone in immediate need of help.<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Dr. Christine Cauffield\u2019s 38-year medical career has reached well beyond speaking to crowded ballrooms. 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