St. Johns County officials are gathering behavioral health professionals, educators, law enforcement and people with lived experience in St. Augustine for a daylong summit aimed at reversing a suicide rate that has risen sharply in the county over the past three years, even as rates across Florida and the nation have fallen during that same span. The Zero Suicide St. Johns County Summit runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Oceanfront on A1A Beach Boulevard, and the public can register to attend.
The event is organized by LSF Health Systems, according to Action News Jax, which reported that CEO Christine Cauffield said she is optimistic about exploring proven methods to address the trend. LSF Health Systems is one of seven regional behavioral health Managing Entities contracted by the Florida Department of Children and Families, overseeing state-funded mental health and substance use care for more than 1.2 million uninsured and underinsured residents across 23 North Florida counties through a network of more than 60 provider organizations. The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners has proclaimed August 12, 2026, as “Zero Suicide St. Johns Day,” a designation that calls on local businesses, schools and healthcare agencies to adopt suicide prevention best practices, according to the St. Johns County Government.
A Local Trend Moving the Wrong Direction
Suicide rates in St. Johns County have risen sharply during the last three years, even as suicide rates have fallen across Florida and the United States over the same period, the station's report notes. That divergence sits against a backdrop of already sobering regional numbers: public health data recorded 69 certified suicide deaths across the tri-county area of St. Johns, Flagler and Putnam counties in 2023, according to Florida Health CHARTS figures relayed by UF Health St. Johns, which operates a dedicated Behavioral Health Resource Center and care navigation services.
Statewide, CDC mortality data for 2024 showed Florida recorded 3,633 suicide deaths, an age-adjusted rate of 13.9 per 100,000 residents compared with a national average of 13.7, according to KFF. State rates nationally range from 5.7 per 100,000 in Washington, D.C., to 29.7 in Alaska, per the same KFF analysis.
Golden Gate Bridge Veteran Headlines the Summit
Kevin Briggs, a retired California Highway Patrol sergeant who patrolled San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge for 20 years, will serve as keynote speaker. Cauffield said Briggs is expected to bring a unique perspective to the gathering, per Action News Jax's report. During his tenure, Briggs used empathy, active listening and a calm presence to talk hundreds of people out of taking their own lives, according to the outlet, successfully bringing over 200 individuals in crisis back over the railing and losing only two, according to the Bridge Rail Foundation. He detailed those experiences in the co-authored memoir “Guardian of the Golden Gate: Protecting the Line Between Hope and Despair,” earning him the nickname “Guardian of the Golden Gate” for his approach to crisis intervention.
Transportation officials completed a $224 million, 20-foot-wide steel safety net along both sides of the 1.7-mile Golden Gate Bridge in January 2024, aiming to eliminate jumps at a site where nearly 1,800 people had died by suicide since 1937, according to the Bridge Rail Foundation. The net project took years to build following decades of advocacy, underscoring the scale of the crisis Briggs confronted firsthand during his patrol years.
The Zero Suicide Framework and Its Track Record
Summit discussions will focus on the Zero Suicide framework, developed by clinical experts at the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. The framework aims to eliminate suicide by transforming organizational practices, staff training and safety protocols into a proactive, systemic approach rather than isolated crisis reactions. Healthcare systems adopting its seven core domains have achieved 60% to 80% reductions in suicide rates among patients in care, led by a landmark 75% drop at Detroit's Henry Ford Health System, according to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.
The St. Augustine gathering follows a similar event LSF Health Systems held in neighboring Duval County last August, known as the Zero Suicide Jax summit, which convened law enforcement, health providers and advocates in Jacksonville. Hoodline previously reported on how that Jacksonville summit spurred new wellness efforts within the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, including presentations on officer mental health that Hoodline also covered separately.
Existing Local Programs Offer a Model
St. Johns County already has a homegrown example of what systemic change can look like. The youth mental health initiative B.R.A.V.E., short for Be Resilient And Voice Emotions, reduced average appointment wait times for students seeking behavioral healthcare from 90 days in 2018 to just 18 days during the 2023-24 school year, while increasing referral follow-through from 35% to 90%, according to First Coast News. The program was founded through UF Health St. Johns Care Connect and has since received state funding to expand statewide, per the St. Johns County School District.
Awareness of crisis resources remains a broader challenge nationally. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline operates 24/7 as a free, confidential call, text and chat service across all 50 states under SAMHSA oversight, having transitioned to the simplified three-digit code in July 2022. Yet a late-2025 survey found only 10% of U.S. adults feel very familiar with the 988 system, according to NORC at the University of Chicago.
Organizers say the summit is designed to bring state and community leaders, behavioral health professionals, educators, advocates and individuals with lived experience together around the Zero Suicide model, with registration open to the public ahead of the event.
