MONTICELLO – County Coroner Albee Bockman gave a stark warning to legislators during the most recent Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee: “We have an issue here in Sullivan County. You must concentrate on mental health,” he said.

Bockman said that over the past four months, eight of the county’s deaths resulted from suicide.

He said the incidents were drug-related and signaled the importance of mental health on the outcomes of Sullivan County residents.

Bockman reported that for the month of August there were 19 deaths in total, 15 of these were natural deaths, two resulted from automobile accidents, and two were the result of suicide. He noted that there were no homicides or overdoses in August.

“Although the overdoses in the county have decreased substantially since the beginning of the year, there has been a notable increase in the number of suicides,” Bockman said.

There were six suicides between the beginning of May and the end of July. “And this month we had two more,” Bockman added.

Bockman said that eight suicides over four months occurred for a number of different reasons but linked the suicides to drugs and mental health.

“There has been a wide amount of publicity on social media and in national news about the state of mental health in our country. We have an issue here in Sullivan County. I don’t know how to address it personally, that’s your job,” Bockman told the legislators.

Bockman’s statements to the legislature came one week before Governor Kathy Hochul announced the release of the New York State Roadmap for Suicide Prevention. This five-year plan seeks to create a comprehensive, statewide approach to preventing suicide and is part of approximately $2 billion of funds that Hochul has invested into strengthening New York’s mental health system.

“We know that suicide is preventable when New Yorkers who are at-risk or in crises have the right support,” Governor Hochul said in a press release on September 10. “On World Suicide Prevention Day today, we are providing a bold approach for our state to provide necessary support to populations most at risk, embrace new prevention strategies, while monitoring our progress to ensure these efforts are effective.”

Office of Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan applauded Hochul’s announcement, saying “During Suicide Prevention Month, we should remember that every life lost to suicide is a tragedy and all of us have a role to play in prevention. The roadmap is a comprehensive guide that will help us utilize data and recognize populations most at risk so we can effectively focus prevention efforts across the state.”