AIM for Zero: Suicide Care is Health Care

Director of the Center for Health Policy & Health Services Research and Director of Research, Behavioral Health Service

Brian K. Ahmedani, PhD, LMSW is the Director of the Center for Health Policy & Health Services Research and Director of Research, Behavioral Health Services. He received his PhD and MSW degrees from Michigan State University (MSU) and is a fully licensed clinical and macro masters-level social worker in the State of Michigan. Dr. Ahmedani also completed a NIH / NIDA-funded fellowship program in Drug Dependence Epidemiology. He joined the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research at Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in 2010, and was appointed Director of the Center (September 2018).

His research interests are in the area of health services and interventions for individuals with mental health and substance use conditions, with particular expertise in suicide prevention. Currently, he is the HFHS Site-PI for the NIMH-funded Mental Health Research Network and the Health Systems Node of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network. He is PI/Co-PI for two large multi-site studies on suicide prevention – the first investigating healthcare use patterns before suicide and the second evaluating implementation of the Zero Suicide Model across health systems. He is also Co-PI for the Trans-America Consortium of the NIH All of Us Research Program, and serves as Co-I on several other projects.

Dr. Ahmedani has been appointed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Suicide Prevention Commission for a term commencing April 3, 2020 and expiring April 2, 2024. The Commission will work with state departments and agencies and nonprofit organizations to research the causes and possible underlying factors of suicide in Michigan.

Tribal Lead and a Senior Project Associate with the Zero Suicide Institute, and retired Deputy Commissioner of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services.

Sadé Heart of the Hawk Ali is the retired Deputy Commissioner of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services.  She is now the Tribal Lead and a Senior Project Associate with the Zero Suicide Institute. She served on the SAMHSA/CSAT National Advisory Council for over 4 years. Ms. Ali holds faculty positions at Brown University, Temple University’s College of Health Professions and Drexel University’s School of Public Health. She has traveled the US, Canada, and Australia providing training on Two Spirit history and culture, intergenerational, historical and modern-day trauma and healing in Indigenous communities, and culturally appropriate recovery management and resilience-promoting service delivery in behavioral health.

She has published her thesis, other scholarly articles, and a textbook on culturally appropriate recovery/resilience services, the ending of health disparities through enhanced access to care, and the impact of intergenerational and historical trauma on the Indigenous peoples of North America. She is one of the co-authors of the Philadelphia Behavioral Health Transformation Practice Guidelines for Recovery and Resilience Oriented Treatment, a framework for the fields of mental health and substance use treatment services that is used worldwide.  Several years ago, she published Social Healing Words-Using Language to Promote Recovery and Resilience for Individuals, Families and Communities.  Most recently, she published Best and Promising Practices for the Implementation of Zero Suicide in Indian Country, a toolkit that indigenizes the Zero Suicide framework and for which she won the 2020 Innovations in Public Health Award from the National Indian Health Board.

Ms. Ali is a multiple suicide attempt survivor. She has been in recovery and the field of behavioral health services for 51 years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Counseling Psychology, a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology and is ABD in Clinical Psychology.  She is Mi’kmaq First Nation from the Sturgeon Clan and the Founding Elder and Medicine Keeper of the Eastern States Two Spirit Alliance. Ms. Ali is a lifetime member of SAIGE (Society of American Indian Government Employees) for which she serves on the Board of Directors.

Professor of Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, and Quantitative Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Dr. Edwin Boudreaux is a Professor of Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, and Quantitative Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is a clinical health psychologist with 20 years’ experience in Integrated Behavioral Health across a variety of settings, including emergency medicine, inpatient, and primary care.  His suicide intervention work has included both traditional bedside interventions, as well as mHealth and telehealth interventions.  Dr. Boudreaux serves as the Principal Investigator for the UMass Zero Suicide Framework implementation

Dr. Boudreaux is a clinical health psychologist with 20 years’ experience in Integrated Behavioral Health across a variety of settings, including emergency medicine, inpatient, and primary care. His suicide intervention work has included both traditional bedside interventions, as well as mHealth and telehealth interventions. Dr. Boudreaux serves as the Principal Investigator for the UMass Zero Suicide Framework implementation.

Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, Albany Medical College
Director, Suicide Prevention Center of NY at the New York State Office of Mental Health

Jay Carruthers’ interest in health systems began after college when he worked as a health policy analyst for the Jackson Hole Group, a prominent health care reform think tank. He then attended medical school at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and did his residency at the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program where he was a chief resident at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center’s Dialectical Behavioral Treatment Partial Hospital Program. He went on to become an assistant professor in psychiatry at Albany Medical Center in their outpatient resident training clinic.

He joined the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) in November of 2010 as director of the Bureau of Psychiatric Services and Research Institute Support. In June of 2014, Dr. Carruthers became the founding director of the OMH Suicide Prevention Center of New York. Since then he has led the effort to coordinate suicide prevention programming for New York State with an emphasis on improving care for suicidal individuals receiving care in the public mental health system.

In the clinical domain, Dr. Carruthers and his team have been nationally recognized for their work with health systems to integrate suicide prevention, receiving several federal grants to support this work, including the largest implementation of the Zero Suicide model in the U.S. involving over 165 mental health clinics. During his tenure as director, he has been co-director for two federal grants, was the lead author of New York State’s most recent suicide prevention plan and was instrumental in bringing a novel intervention for individuals with a recent suicide attempt, an extremely high-risk group, to New York State—a first in the nation program. In 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, New York State had the 2nd lowest suicide rate among all 50 states.

Neuropsychiatrist, healthcare leadership adviser, and an Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.

Dr. Ed Coffey is a neuropsychiatrist, a healthcare leadership adviser, and an Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC (2018-present).

He earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology (BS) from Wofford College (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1974, where he also won a Rhodes Scholarship to s tu d y a t St John's College, Oxford University ( BA in Psychology, Philosophy, and Physiology, 1976). He earned his medical degree from Duke University (AOA) in 1979, where he subsequently completed a medical internship and residencies in neurology and psychiatry (1984). Dr. Coffey has held faculty and leadership positions at Duke University Medical Center (1984-1990), Allegheny University of the Health Sciences (1990-1996), Henry Ford Health System (System Vice President and Chair of Psychiatry, 1996- 2014), and The Menninger Clinic (President and CEO, 2014-2017).

Dr. Coffey is an accomplished physician (board certified in both Neurology and Psychiatry) with expertise in neuropsychiatry and brain stimulation, garnering numerous listings as a “Top Doctor.” He is also an award-winning health care executive, recognized for creating and leading high- value healthcare systems. Dr. Coffey’s innovative work on “Perfect Depression Care” has been widely cited as a model for health care transformation, and its audacious goal of “Zero Suicides” has become an international movement, honored by The Joint Commission (2006 Codman Award), the American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2006 Gold Achievement Award), an d the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (2011), as well as by his appointment to the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (2011).

Dr. Coffey has made important scientific contributions to the fields of neuropsychiatry, brain stimulation, healthcare quality improvement, family- centered care, and suicide prevention. He has authored over 150 scientific publications and chapters, and he has edited several influential textbooks including Textbook of Geriatric Neuropsychiatry (now in its 3rd edition). Dr. Coffey also serves on the editorial boards of several medical journals.

Dr. Coffey is a Fellow and former President of both the American Neuropsychiatric Association (ANPA) and the International Society for ECT and Neurostimulation (ISEN), and he remains on the senior leadership of both organizations. He is also a Distinguished Life Fellow of the APA, a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, and a member of the American College of Psychiatrists. Dr. Coffey is an award-winning educator, and he has served on the National Board of Medical Examiners, as well as on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Coffey is active in his community, advocating for social justice, a sustainable environment, safe gun ownership, and social and emotional learning (SEL).

President of Recovery Innovations International, Partner at Behavioral Health Link and serves on Executive Committee of National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention

David W. Covington, LPC, MBA is CEO and President of Recovery Innovations, Inc. (d/b/a RI International). He is a behavioral health innovator, entrepreneur and storyteller. He is also a partner in Behavioral Health Link, and founder of the international innovations “Moving America’s Soul on Suicide,” “Zero Suicide,” “Crisis Now,” “Crisis Talk” and “Hope Inc. Stories.”

A licensed professional counselor, Mr. Covington received an MBA from Kennesaw State and an MS from the University of Memphis. He previously served as Vice President at Magellan Health responsible for the executive and clinical operations of the $750 million Arizona contract. He is a member of the DHHS Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC) established in 2017 in accordance with the 21st Century Cures Act to report to Congress on advances in behavioral health.

Mr. Covington is a two-time national winner of the Council of State Governments Innovations Award (2008 & 2012). He also competed as a finalist in Harvard’s Innovations in American Government in 2009 for the Georgia Crisis & Access Line, and the program was featured in Business Week magazine.

Mr. Covington has served on the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Executive Committee since 2010. He was also the Vice-Chair of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline SAMHSA Steering Committee from 2005 until 2020 and served as a former President of the American Association of Suicidology. He has served on numerous committees and task forces on clinical care and crisis services, including the National Council for Behavioral Health Board of Directors.

Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Sherry Davis Molock, Ph.D., M.Div., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Dr. Molock graduated with honors from Dartmouth College in 1979, earned a master’s degree (1981) and a doctoral degree in Clinical/Community Psychology (1985) from the University of Maryland, College Park. In May 2000 she graduated with honors with a Master of Divinity degree from Howard University.

Dr. Molock teaches undergraduate and doctoral courses in the field of clinical psychology and conducts research on the prevention of suicide and HIV in African American adolescents and young adults. Dr. Molock’s work has appeared in a number of professional journals, has served on several local and national boards, and currently serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Community Psychology. She also serves as a grant reviewer for NIMH, NIDA, CDC, and SAMHSA. She recently served as a member of the Scientific Work Group that served as advisors for the Congressional Black Caucus’ Emergency Task Force on Suicide Prevention for Black Youth. In addition to her work in psychology, Dr. Molock and her husband, Guy Molock, Jr., are the founding pastors of the Beloved Community Church – United Church in Christ in Accokeek, Maryland. Their ministry focuses on “family healing” that is designed to bring spiritual, physical, and emotional healing to the community. She is the proud mother of the Molock Jewels: Amber, Jelani & Diarra and the proud “Mimi” of Makayla and Oliyah.

Dr. Hogan formerly served as New York State Commissioner of Mental Health and now operates a consulting practice in health and behavioral health care.

Michael F. Hogan, Ph.D. formerly served as New York State Commissioner of Mental Health and now operates a consulting practice in health and behavioral health care. He serves as Special Master in U.S. v Miss., a case focused on improvements in the Mississippi mental health system. Previously, Dr. Hogan served as Director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health (DMH). Dr. Hogan chaired the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, and he was appointed as the first behavioral health representative on the board of The Joint Commission and as a member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Hogan served on the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) National Advisory Mental Health Council, as President of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, and as Board President of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) Research Institute. His awards for national leadership include recognition by the National Governor’s Association, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Campaign for Mental Health Reform, the American College of Mental Health Administration, and the American Psychiatric Association. He is a graduate of Cornell University and earned his Master of Science from the State University College in Brockport, New York and his Doctor of Philosophy from Syracuse University.

Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder - Concert Health

Virna Little, PSyD, LCSW-r, SAP, CCM is an internationally recognized consultant and speaker for her work integrating primary care and behavioral health, developing sustainable integrated delivery systems and suicide prevention. Dr. Little is also the Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Concert Health, a national organization providing behavioral health services to primary care providers. Prior to this role, Dr. Little worked for New York City leading the Center for Innovation in Mental Health and a strategic planner for New York City Department of Health. For the 22 years prior to that role, Ms. Little served as a Senior Vice President for a large FQHC network in New York, overseeing over 300 behavioral health and community staff. Prior to that role she worked for New York City Health and Hospitals as a citywide family violence coordinator. Ms. Little is also co-found of Zero Overdose , a not for profit addressing unintentional overdoses nationwide.

Dr. Little has been a member of the AIMS Center at the University of Washington and is currently on the National Council for Community Behavioral Health Care consulting teams. She is also a faculty member for the national and international Zero Suicide initiatives and has spoken on national suicide prevention strategies at the White House.

Dr. Little has been recognized with awards from the Society for Social Work Leaders in HealthCare, National Association of Social Workers, Community Health Center Network of New York, New York Suicide Prevention Committee and others. She is a Doctor of Psychology and has a Master of Social Work . Additionally, she is a Certified Care Manager (CCM) and a recognized Substance Abuse Professional (SAP).

Dr. Little has served as Board Chair for the Association for Clinicians for the Underserved and the American Heart Association Hudson Valley Region, as well as served on boards for multiple professional and community organizations.

Branch Chief for Suicide Prevention at SAMHSA and the master architect for crafting the task force that would publish the Suicide Care in Systems Framework. Dr. McKeon also helped lead the 2012 revision of the US National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, first adopted in 2001.

Richard McKeon Ph.D., MPH received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona, and a Master's of Public Health in Health Administration from Columbia University. He has spent most of his career working in community mental health, including 11 years as director of a psychiatric emergency service and 4 years as Associate Administrator/Clinical Director of a hospital based community mental health center in Newton, New Jersey. In 2001, he was awarded an American Psychological Association Congressional Fellowship and worked for United States Senator Paul Wellstone, covering health and mental health policy issues. He spent 5 years on the Board of the American Association of Suicidology as Clinical Division Director and has also served on the Board of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He is currently Chief for the Suicide Prevention Branch in the Center for Mental Health Services, of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, where he oversees all branch suicide prevention activities, including the Garrett Lee Smith State/Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention, and Campus Suicide Prevention grant programs, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, and the Native Aspirations program. In 2008, he was appointed by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the Secretary’s Blue Ribbon Work Group on Suicide Prevention. In 2009, he was appointed by the Secretary of Defense to the Department of Defense Task Force on Suicide Prevention in the Military. He served on the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Task Force that revised the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and participated in the development of WHO’s World Suicide Prevention Report. He is also the Co-Chair of the Federal Working Group on Suicide Prevention.

Loss Survivor and Subject Matter Expert

WyKisha McKinney is the Program Manager at The Harris Center for Mental Health & IDD. Her fight against suicide began with the loss of her brother Johnny Madison, who died by suicide in 2004. Overwhelmed by grief after the death of her brother, WyKisha slipped into major depression which almost ended with her own suicide attempt. With the support of her family, and the help of local counseling centers, she was able to get the help she needed to cope with her loss and manage her depression. She also found hope and recovery in serving others that had been affected by suicide. Over the last fifteen years, WyKisha has obtained a wealth knowledge and experience in crisis intervention and suicide prevention, of which she is more than eager to share with others. Currently, WyKisha is the Zero Suicide Program Manager for The Harris Center for Mental Health & IDD in Houston, Texas The Loss Division Chair of the American Association of Suicidology, and the Board Chair of the Southeast Texas chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She is a highly sought speaker and advocate and has been featured in several documentaries, television interviews, books, and other publications. Recently, WyKisha launched her first business, The TwenTea Company, a tea company that donates 20% of its profits to suicide prevention.

Senior Advocacy Associate for The Trevor Project

Keygan Miller (they/them) is Senior Advocacy Associate for The Trevor Project, the largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. Keygan is responsible for the research, advocacy, and legislative agenda for The Trevor Project in the area of school suicide prevention policy as well as the day to day operations of the advocacy team. Keygan previously served as a Special Education Teacher for Cincinnati Public Schools. Keygan graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Master of Arts in Education in Curriculum and Instruction as well as from George Washington University with a Master of Education and Human Development in Education Policy.