Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe awarded a new Challenge Coin for suicide prevention excellence to organizations, including the Safer Homes Collaborative at UMSL’s Missouri Institute of Mental Health, that contribute to the Missouri Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families. Project Director Katie Ellison (front row, fourth from right) represented SHC at the ceremony last Wednesday in the Missouri State Capitol. (Photos courtesy of the Office of Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe)

Katie Ellison had the honor of representing colleagues and partners of the Safer Homes Collaborative on Wednesday in Jefferson City as she accepted a Challenge Coin for suicide prevention excellence from Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe in a ceremony at the Missouri State Capitol.

Robert Paul, the executive director of the Missouri Institute of Mental Health at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, was also on hand to see the collaborative recognized, along with other team members of the Missouri Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families for their leadership and commitment to preventing firearm suicide across the state.

Safer Homes Collaborative Project Director Katie Ellison (fourth from left) and MIMH Executive Director Robert Paul (fifth from left) stand with other honorees as Gov. Mike Kehoe speaks during a ceremony last Wednesday in his office at the Missouri State Capitol.

SHC has been a been a key partner in the Missouri Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide since it began in 2021. It has played a vital role in engaging veteran-serving organizations, delivering evidence-based training and fostering cross-sector collaboration to address a critical public health issue.

The governor’s decision to award the Challenge Coin reflects the collaborative’s impact in advancing culturally competent, community-centered strategies that promote safe firearm storage and reduce suicide risk, particularly for at-risk service members, veterans and their relatives.

“It is a tremendous honor and a testament to the dedication of our team and partners,” said Ellison, who serves as the project director for the Safer Homes Collaborative at MIMH. “It affirms the value of our work and strengthens our resolve to continue building safer, more resilient communities throughout Missouri.”

Ellison has led the Safer Homes Collaborative since it began in 2018, and she remembers encountering skepticism from some community members when building support for the initiative in its early years.

“This is a highly polarized political climate, where people are very sensitive about discussing anything that appears to encroach upon Second Amendment rights, personal autonomy or personal agency, and then pepper it with the taboo of talking about mental health challenges and suicide,” she said. “We have found success in how to have these conversations with organizations, with communities, with individuals, by building consensus that we all can agree that no one wants anyone to die by suicide. We all can agree that that’s horrible, and gun owners, we can all agree that nothing makes gun ownership look more irresponsible than someone storing their firearm irresponsibly.”

SHC advocates for safer storage of firearms and raises awareness about strategies that can be used to prevent people, including individuals facing mental health crises, from accessing firearms that could be used in an attempt to end their lives.

Challenge Coins are rooted in military tradition with origins that might stretch back as far as World War I. They were first used as a symbol of belonging to a military unit but have become symbols of recognition and respect, typically awarded to individuals or organizations that demonstrate exceptional service and commitment.

Receiving the Challenge Coin had special significance for Ellison as a military spouse whose husband serves in the Air National Guard in Illinois.

“I’ve seen him receive honor coins throughout the course of our marriage and his service, and I always think it’s really cool when he gets one,” she said. “For the Safer Homes Collaborative to receive one is pretty special. It’s an acknowledgement and a recognition that we’re having an impact. To me, it’s a symbol of trust and gratitude that we are a trusted initiative in the state of Missouri and that we are connected to Missouri’s values of personal agency, citizen’s ownership rights but also caring for one another.”

For more information about the Safer Homes Collaborative and its initiatives, please visit www.saferhomescollaborative.org.