ABSTRACT
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, located in East Baton Rouge Parish,2 has an established survivors program that began in 1981, with ongoing support from a 24-hour crisis intervention center. The center had a positive relationship with the local coroner and received survivor referrals from around the state as well as the surrounding communities. Because of the wealth of existing resources for survivors, the relationship with the coroner, the access to survivors, and the 24-hour access for services, the site was well suited to study how services for survivors might be enhanced. Perhaps most important to the goal was that the crisis intervention center in this parish was able to provide an APM, beginning in 1998. The APM was designed to be implemented by a team dedicated to the Local Outreach to Survivors of Suicide, better known as the LOSS team. The LOSS team includes staff members of the Crisis Center and survivors who have had additional training to help them respond to survivors at the scenes of suicide deaths.
