Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare

Posted by Carl Gerhardt on Mar 05, 2019
On 3/5/2019, Catherine Prestigiovanni spoke to the membership of the Magnolia Rotary Club about mental health services offered by the Tr-County Behavioral Healthcare Organization. Pictured above is Catherine Prestigiovanni.
 
Catherine Prestigiovanni with Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare in Montgomery County talked about mental health services offered in our area. Her focus was on suicide prevention and she shared some staggering facts with the club:
  • suicide is the leading cause of death among college and university students in the United States,
  • approximately 44,193 Americans die by suicides each year;
  • approximately 121 suicides are completed each day; and
  • for every completed suicide there are 225 people who attempt.
Suicide use to be a taboo topic but it impacts all of us and we have to start talking about it. Tri-County works with schools and specifically teachers. They offer an 8 hour course for teachers to be aware and what to look for in suicide prevention. Tri-County has trained over 2,000 teachers. Currently, Tri-County is seeing mental health issues in ages 15 -23 with the highest being anxiety disorders.
 
Catherine mentioned several foundations in the Montgomery County area that support awareness and suicide prevention. One is Cassidy Joined for Hope which their mission is to prevent teen suicide and another is Out of the Darkness Walk in The Woodlands.
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