The New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition is devoted to suicide prevention, intervention and postvention; and provides education, support and advocacy to reduce the suicide rate in New Mexico.
New Mexico Suicide Prevention Board of Directors
The NMSPC Board oversees all operations of the coalition. However, member input on direction and support are critical to the success of the coalition mission and efforts.
Per articles of incorporation and bylaws of the NMSPC: The Board of Directors shall manage the business and affairs of the corporation. The number of Directors constituting the whole Board shall be not less than three nor more than nine. Each Director shall hold office for two (2) years or until his/her resignation, retirement, removal, disqualification, death, or until his or her successor is elected. Directors may serve two consecutive terms, and thereafter may be elected to the Board after a hiatus of one year. Each Director is expected to serve on two committees, and contribute financially to the corporation to the best of his or her ability.
Laura Rowland – Executive Director
Laura has been an active member of the Coalition for four years, and recently was elected to the Board. However, when the Executive Director position for the Coalition became available in September 2008, it was clear that her talents and enthusiasm for suicide prevention were a good match for the job. Now she can put her energy full time into promoting the mission of the Coalition statewide. Laura’s heartfelt passion for suicide prevention comes from her status as a survivor. She says, “After losing a friend eight years ago, I started trying to learn everything I could about suicide. After countless hours on the internet, and wondering why this had happened, I started speaking at a few local high schools and middle schools about what I had been through as a survivor. My hope was that I could reach out to someone who might be able to see the warning signs that I felt I should have seen. I am very excited about the road ahead, and the challenges of breaking the silence, so that others will not have to carry the label of “survivor”.
Sabrina Strong -Health Educator
Sabrina Strong comes to the coalition after three years working as a Health Promotion Specialist for the New Mexico Department of Health. Sabrina uses her experiences as a suicide attempt survivor to bring real life examples to the trainings she provides all over the state of New Mexico. She holds a Masters in Public Health from Boston University, and has been a health educator for fifteen years teaching about unintended pregnancy and sexuality transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. Sabrina worked for several years as a case manager for individuals with severe mental illness and developmental disability, and served as a program coordinator for a substance abuse prevention program for youth in Massachusetts.
Susan Casias – Board Member
Jennie McCraw, M.S. – Board Member
Jennie McCraw has a Master’s in Social Work from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is a Licensed Independent Social Worker. She has worked in both medical social work and inpatient and outpatient behavioral health. She is currently employed at the Lovelace Health Plan in the Quality Management Department. Her interest in suicide prevention activities began in Baton Rouge with volunteer work at the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center as a paraprofessional answering the crisis hotline. This experience led her to pursue graduate studies. She is excited to be returning to suicide prevention activities in New Mexico.
Jessica Kohr Krakow, M.S. – Board Member
Jessica Kohr Krakow settled in Santa Fe in 1981 from Lancaster PA. After SFHS and Colorado Springs School she received her GED. She graduated with an AA from SFCC and later, with her infant son looking on, a BUS from UNM. She and her husband were blessed again, with a daughter in 1996. She and her husband have collaborated on many projects including the SWEET (Sleep, Wake Education, Evaluation and Treatment) Project, a research protocol for the Assessment & Treatment of Sleep Disorders in Adolescents with Depression and Suicidality. She trained with doctors Greg Mertz and Lucy Bradley-Springer at NM AIDS Education and as a facilitator of the Buddy Program with Mary Maulsby at NM AIDS Services. Living in denial of the edge of life and death is at times as painful for her as living on the edge of life and death. She strives for a balance between recognizing the preciousness of the gift of life with the stimulation that comes from seeing off the edge.
