Susan H. Eastgard, Executive Director YSPP
Sue Eastgard is a nationally recognized expert in the field of suicide prevention - see news of her recent award below. She has worked on mental health issues for 25 years as a clinician, manager and director of crisis services and suicide prevention efforts. She was the President of the American Association of Suicidology in 2002 and was the program chair for the Association’s 1997 National Healing after Suicide Conference.
Ms. Eastgard has provided on-site technical assistance to numerous states across the US as they develop their suicide prevention plans. She is frequent keynote speaker at state, national and international suicide prevention conferences. She has several relevant publications: “My Experience Working with the Media After Kurt Cobain’s Suicide,” SIEC Bulletin, Winter 1995 and Jobes, Berman, O’Carroll, Eastgard and Knickmeyer, “The Kurt Cobain Suicide Crisis: Perspectives from Research, Public Health and the News Media.” Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior Fall 1996.
Ms. Eastgard has served as the director of the Youth Suicide Prevention Program of Washington State since 1997. In this capacity she is responsible for the development, implementation and delivery of programs directed at young people, caring adults and parents to reduce the incidence of youth suicide in Washington State. She has produced adult-focused educational materials (i.e., brochures, posters) which have resulted in a 10% increase in the public’s awareness of youth suicide prevention messages. She has developed a website that receives ¼ million hits per month. She has written innovative classroom curriculum for 9th grade health students (H.E.L.P.) and has trained thousands of teachers, social service providers and parents how to recognize the signs for suicide and how to get help.
She previously served as the executive director for the Seattle-King County Crisis Clinic for 3½ years. During her tenure she transitioned the agency from a mainframe to PC-based computer system and implemented a new phone service called TEEN LINK, a help line answered by teens for teens.
Sue holds a masters degree in social work from the University of Washington. She is also certified as a Master Trainer for the ASIST program, a suicide first aid training program designed to teach suicide intervention techniques to teachers, counselors, nurses, mental health professionals and others who work with youth.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
Sue Eastgard recognized with Top Award at the 2010 AAS Conference
I remember when I first met Roger Tierney – it was at a certification examiners’ luncheon at an AAS (American Association of Suicidology) conference many years ago. I was a relatively new crisis center director but had been recruited to be part of a select group who traveled across the US and Canada to visit crisis centers, reviewing and evaluating them for AAS accreditation. I wondered how someone who was part of the “brain trust” for Living Works Education could also be so warm and welcoming of a “newbie” like me. The year Roger was the program chair for the AAS conference in Memphis, he was dying of cancer and probably should not have been at the conference, but AAS was in his blood. He had given hundreds of volunteer hours to the organization and members felt more like family than colleagues to him. He knew it would be his last AAS conference but he had to make certain that the conference that he
and his good friend (and AAS Board President)
Frank Campbell had organized went off without a hitch. The last time I saw Roger he was dancing - in his wheelchair – with his wife at the Peabody Hotel.
After his death, Frank Campbell created the AAS service award in honor of Roger and it has been presented to many deserving people over the years. As someone who is not a researcher or an academic – and therefore not eligible for those AAS awards – receiving this recognition was BIG for me. I have served on the AAS Board of Directors and was president of the association in 2002. I organized the AAS “Healing After Suicide” conference that was held in Seattle in 1995. I currently serve as the chair of the AAS video review committee and I still travel the country reviewing crisis centers for accreditation. I have been committed to suicide prevention, intervention and postvention for nearly two decades and have made some incredibly good friends along the way. Thanks to my staff for nominating me for this award and thanks, too, to my board who have allowed me the flexibility to travel and spend precious hours away from YSPP and Washington State. As I told the AAS membership when accepting the award in Orlando, it is a great honor to be recognized for my volunteer service and commitment to the field but an even greater honor to receive an award named in memory of Roger Tierney.
YSPP Staff:
Sue Eastgard, Executive Director
Jennifer Barron, Deputy Director
Heather Carter, GLBTQ Project Coordinator
Lisa Watson, Curricula Coordinator
Donna Flock, Communications Specialist/
Administrative Assistant
Raquel Reyes, Office Assistant
YSPP Board Members and Affiliations:
Michael Wood, President
Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Senior ConsultantSeattle, WA
Scot Reynolds, Vice-President
Self-Employed Investment Consultant
Federal Way, WA
John Wilcox, Treasurer
Avista Corporation, Financial ReportingSpokane, WA
Molly Adrian, Secretary
University of Washington Child Health Institute
Seattle, WA
Jeri Hedrick
Community Advocate
Spokane, WAJack Knellinger
Microsoft, Community Affairs
Seattle, WA
Marko Liias
State of Washington Representative
21st Legislative District
Edmonds, WAPete Smith
President, Columbia Futures Group, Inc.
Bellevue, WABarbara Wolff
Community Advocate/ Mental Health Educator
Des Moines, WA
