A Public Health Approach to Suicide Prevention in Washington

Washington state recently published its updated 2025 Washington State Suicide Prevention Plan. Join Forefront faculty advisor and UW clinical assistant professor Jeffrey Sung, MD, and Washington State Department of Health’s Kirstin McFarland, MPA and Jarrett Brunny, PhD, MPH, to learn how key strategies and priorities for action within the plan can be applied in your community.

This webinar provides a foundation for understanding the science and theory behind suicide prevention, as well as the perspectives from engagement that shaped the state’s strategies and priorities for action.

Build on Strategies for Suicide Prevention in Your Community:

• Understand the guiding principles of Injury and Violence Prevention

• Learn how clinical and public health practitioners have worked together to apply upstream solutions to suicide

• Explore population-level data and mortality trends over time

• Discover resources and ways to connect and support prevention efforts in Washington

Washingtonians will also hear about ways to get involved in suicide prevention efforts in their communities.

📅 Date/Time: 12- 1pm, December 10, 2025 
📍 Location: Virtual 
💲 Cost: Free

Once you register, you will recieve an email with the zoom link before the start of the event.

This event is produced by Forefront Suicide Prevention and supported by the Washington State Department of Health

This workshop has been approved for 1 CEU by the Washington Chapter, National Association of Social Workers (NASW) for Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapists and Licensed Mental Health Counselors. Our Provider number is #1975-473.

Bios:

Jeffrey Sung, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor in the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. His work includes training and advisory roles with Forefront Suicide Prevention and the Center for Suicide Prevention and Recovery. He has developed and delivered trainings on suicide prevention, suicide care, and responding to patient suicide locally and nationally for a broad range of health professionals, lay audiences and organizations, including technology companies and the U.S. Navy. For seventeen years, he provided psychiatric care in downtown Seattle through a Health Care for the Homeless Network grant. Dr. Sung also maintains a private practice for patient care, training, forensic and clinical consultation.

Kirstin McFarland, MPA (she/her) began her career supporting women in low-barrier shelters, subsidized housing, and as an advocate for survivors of intimate partner violence. She has held multiple roles supporting the survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence through systems and policy change leadership. She currently serves as the section manager of the Washington State Department of Health's Injury and Violence Prevention Section. This section leads work around gender-based violence, overdose to action, suicide prevention, accidental injury prevention, traumatic brain injury prevention, and more. Kirstin has served as the chair of the Rape Prevention and Education Directors Council and is currently the President of the Safe States Executive Committee.

Jarrett Brunny, PhD, MPH leads the Suicide Prevention Program at Washington State Department of Health and has previously supported statewide environmental public health initiatives. Prior to service in the public sector, he served as Vice President of Community Impact within the United Way network and partnered with community-based organizations in multiple states. He earned a doctorate in public health from the University of Florida, focusing on protecting maternal and child health during the opioid crisis, and completed a Master of Public Health degree at the University of South Florida. Dr. Brunny is a frequent collaborator with the U.S. Office of Minority Health (OMH), the Office of Adolescent Health (OASH), and the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) on national grant awards and reviews.