Suicide and Overdose Fatality Review Teams
Suicide & Overdose Fatality Review Teams (SOFR) are another initiative OCOF is a part of. These teams work in partnership with the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) to prevent future suicide and overdose deaths by conducting a series of case reviews, determining contributing risk factors and circumstances, identifying opportunities for system improvement, and recommending policies, practices, and programs for prevention.
Teams have a variety of members from local health departments, healthcare, public safety, mental and behavioral health, social services, education, and other agencies that share and evaluate information. In an effort to gain as much insight as possible, next of kin (NOK) interviews may also be conducted. Currently, there are teams in Dearborn, Ripley, Franklin & Decatur counties.
About Suicide and Overdose Fatality Review Teams:
SOFR teams are county-led, with support from the state available as needed. By keeping SOFR local, case reviews can lead to community-informed recommendations. SOFR is not a peer review process or an opportunity to second guess agency policy or practice. SOFR is about coming together as community leaders to determine where there were missed opportunities for prevention/intervention, and how, across all agencies, practices/procedures can be improved to prevent future deaths by suicide or overdose.
SOFR teams develop and implement recommendations based on data from the case reviews. When a trend is found, teams go through the following steps: (1) Describe the problem and its context, (2) Identify key risk factors and protective factors, (3) Choose short and long-term goals, (4) Select or develop interventions, (5) Plan the evaluation, (6) Implement, evaluate and improve.
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Identify missed opportunities for prevention and gaps in the system
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Build working relationships between local stakeholders on suicide and overdose prevention
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Recommend policies, programs and legislation to prevent future suicide and overdose deaths
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Implement data-driven prevention and intervention activities
GOALS
Each SOFR meeting is conducted in accordance with the following principles:
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The ultimate goal of the SOFR team is to reduce deaths due to overdose and suicide
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Overdose and suicide deaths are preventable
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Substance use is a chronic, treatable disease
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Use of multi-sector data will inform response strategies
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Continually evaluate and improve SOFR processes
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Use of person-first language to create an environment of dignity and hope
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Respect for all