Who We Are
Imagine Zero is a coalition of professionals, agencies, and community members who meet to improve interagency communication and coordination of services around suicide prevention. Through our collaboration we strive to build a wider and stronger safety net of suicide prevention resources in Northern Colorado.
What We Do
Imagine Zero provides an opportunity to come together to work on community-wide strategies for suicide prevention, learn about resources and projects already existing in Northern Colorado, and discuss ways we can better connect with one another.
Our Belief
We believe that when our agencies come together to weave a true net of care and cooperation, individuals experiencing the despair that precedes suicide will not go unseen and unheard. Someone, somewhere, in our tightly woven net of agencies will notice and know exactly how to respond in a way that builds connection for this individual. Eventually, our community will no longer be one where we puzzle over the excessive suicide rates. Instead, we will be a community of connection, where no individual could possibly fall through our tightly woven net of safety and support.
Guiding Principles
- The structure of our group is flexible in order to fit the evolving needs of our partners and the community.
- We value transparency, collaboration, and best practices.
- We recognize the gift that each of our partners gives to this cause through the time spent in our meetings and the extra work that is taken on in order to provide us with quality presentations or support the group through special projects.
- We also recognize the good work that is already being done by many of our partners.
- We choose to highlight, support, and synergize with this work rather than duplicate or compete.
Priorities
Our coalition has prioritized interagency communication above all, but also recognizes the need to improve mental health outreach and education for youth and parents, to normalize the conversation around suicide, and to increase access to mental health care for all children, youth and families.
We support and actively participate in the state-wide Zero Suicide initiative. We believe in the Zero Suicide model and encourage interagency communication and collaboration as we work towards shifting the culture of Northern Colorado to a Zero Suicide region.
Coalition Partner Spotlight
Rick Hufnagel, Executive Director, Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County: Being involved with Imagine Zero provides the Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County an opportunity to work in a shared collaborative effort to reduce the number of suicides our community has experienced. Collaboration means that a group of individuals interact amongst themselves; share ideas and cooperate with each other in order to accomplish a goal. Collaboration is much more than meeting and networking. It is organizing around common problems, identifying common issues and applying resources that individual collaborators bring to the table from their respective areas of experience, and working toward solutions that individuals could not have imagined on their own. Through this collaborative structure, it is possible to identify overlaps, as well as, gaps in resources and services; share scarce resources; and, have the necessary group strength to change policies and create new resources.