From: Jennifer Wright-Berryman, member of the Bartholomew County Mental Health Action Team
Columbus
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put forth another report reminding us of the increasing suicide rates around the country. The CDC’s data on suicide rates among our young children ages 5-12 revealed that rates are highest among our black children than any other race group. We also know from this data that white men between the ages of 35-55 are at highest risk for suicide death. We still lose approximately 20 veterans a day to suicide. Over the last two years, we have lost numerous celebrities to suicide.
Because of television and social media, suicide has now entered the community conversation. It’s about time.
But, do we know how to talk about it? Do we know how to start the conversation, do we know how to express our fears, our worries? Do we know how to handle those fears? Do we even want to?
We have to do just that. It’s a matter of life and death.
Suicide isn’t easy to discuss. The “issue” being that we lose 45,000 people a year to suicide. That’s twice the rate of homicides in this country.
What can we do? The essential part of this is “we.” Suicide is a community health issue. It’s about all of us joining together, openly recognizing and addressing our own distress and the distress in others. It’s acknowledging that distress and emotional pain are as normal as physical distress and physical pain. Emotional pain is equally important. Emotional pain lives in the shadows of physical pain. It’s time that as a society that we elevate the importance of addressing emotional pain or we will continue to lose people. We have to refranchise love and connectedness, rebuild our bridges of encouragement and belonging, and be the communities we know we were meant to be, life savers.
What can you do?
Join the movement. Ask people if they are OK. Ask people if their hearts hurt. Ask people how you can help. Know your resources, both crisis and mental health providers. Be someone who reaches out instead of someone who walks away. Get trained in suicide prevention.
Love more. Offer hope. And don’t be afraid to ask: “Are you feeling suicidal?” Persuade someone to stay with you while you call for help, or provide them with resources if at all possible. You can do this, we can do this, let’s all do this together. Let’s be a community that saves.
If you’re feeling suicidal or know someone who is, reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, text HELP to the Crisis Text Line at 741741, or locally the Centerstone Crisis Line at 1-800-832-5442. Follow the Bartholomew County Mental Health Action Team and the Community That Saves Facebook pages to get involved.
For more information on suicide prevention training and resources, contact Nicki Vreeland, at Bartholomew County Mental Health Action Team at nvreeland@crh.org.
