Today’s episode hopes to offer an important conversation involving suicide and suicide prevention. To talk to us about this painful yet necessary topic we welcome back Melissa Ladrech., the Mental Health Services Act Coordinator for the Sonoma County Department of Health Services.

On average, there are 73 deaths by suicide each year in Sonoma County, making it the ninth leading cause of death for our county. The Sonoma County suicide rate of 14.3 per 100,000 residents is even higher than the California rate of 10.5.