The Suicide Prevention Awareness Clinic Essay

Jim Lafferty is retiring from MHA in Delaware, effective October 31st. Emily Vera will succeed John as executive director. Emily previously served as community educator, suicide prevention specialist and program director for MHAD’s suicide prevention program. Most recently, Emily served as assistant director and deputy director at MHAD. I have listed her contact information below for your

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people between ages 15 – 34. Now, the question is where’s the effort to stop it? If 90% of people who commit suicide have a mental illness,

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has published a fact sheet of statistics on suicide in the United States. In 2007, it is reported that suicide was the tenth leading cause of death. Furthermore, for every suicide committed, eleven were attempted. A total of 34,598 deaths occurred from suicide with an overall rate of 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. (NIMH, 2010). Risk factors were also noted on this report and listed “depression and other mental disorders, or a substance abuse disorder (often in combination with other mental disorders). More than ninety percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors (NIMH, 2010).”

Andy’s story is just one of many examples as to how the issue of ignoring mental illnesses can negatively affect individuals, especially the youth. One of the biggest issues related to these unchecked mental illnesses is suicide. Between the ages of 15 to 24, suicide is the second leading cause of death. The Center for Disease Control estimates that: “17% of students seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous 12 months, 13.6% of students made a plan about how they would attempt suicide in the

Healthy People 2020 is a government site that identifies health concerns based on statistics observed and collected over a ten-year period. Mental Health and Mental Disorders is one of the many health concerns or topics listed on their website and has been further subcategorized into objectives and goals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2015). The first objective listed under this topic states “reduce the suicide rate” (HHS, 2015). The goal of this objective is to “reduce the suicide rate by ten percent” (HHS, 2015). Suicide is prevalent among varying age groups, ethnicities, and genders (HHS, 2012). It is an increasing problem prompting Healthy People 2020 to label it as a Leading Health Indicator or an extremely important issue (HHS, 2015). To meet their goal, Healthy People 2020 partnered with the U. S. Surgeon General and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (NAASP) to create a plan that can be utilized throughout the nation. Their plan focuses on removing the stigma associated with mental health and mental health disorders while simultaneously building supportive communities with increased access to care, creating a standardized model promoting the collaboration of health care professionals in order to increase identification and data collection of high-risk patients and provide continuity of care, and ensuring the education and the adequacy of patient support systems.

Problem: Too many Veterans commit suicide. As of 2014, Veterans have a twenty-one percent higher risk of suicide than U.S. civilian adults. Veterans Affairs [VA], (2016). Fact Sheet Suicide Prevention.

In the United States, suicide is the third leading cause of death for 10 to 14-year-olds (CDC, 2015) and for 15 to 19-year-olds (Friedman, 2008). In 2013, 17.0% of students grades 9 to 12 in the United States seriously thought about committing suicide, 13.6% made a suicide plan, 8.0% attempted suicide, and 2.7% attempted suicide in which required medical attention (CDC, 2015). These alarming statistics show that there is something wrong with the way mental illness is handled in today’s society. Also, approximately 21% of all teenagers have a treatable mental illness (Friedman, 2008), although 60% do not receive the help that they need (Horowitz, Ballard, & Pao, 2009).

The United States takes the eleventh spot in the top fifteen causes of death because of suicide. For our youth suicide is the third leading cause of death. In today’s society suicide in our youth is becoming a huge issue. Recently, youth suicide in Delaware has been a concerning topic. With the many suicides that have been taking place; we ask ourselves why is this happening to Delaware’s youth? It’s quite sad reading of all the lives taken at such young ages. It’s still questionable on the real reasons why so much of our youth want to cut their life short. There are numbers of things on why possibly our youth would want to commit suicide. There is one reason that has been proven to be the head cause and that is mental illness. A mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions and disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness includes depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors. (Staff, 2012) Some other causes may be bullying, drug and alcohol abuse and physical and sexual abuse. Youth that die by suicide believes that suicide is the only option at that moment; however Delaware has several resources available to prevent youth suicide.

Government Policy The National Suicide Prevention Policy (The Department of Health, 2016) was released in response to the Australian National Mental Health Programs and Services Commission Review (National Mental Health Commission, 2014). This policy is focused on the promotion and prevention of suicide through early intervention. A major focus of the policy changes have been geared towards reducing youth suicide, reducing access to means and changing the portrayal of suicide in the media (The Department of Health, 2016). Unfortunately for the elderly population of Australia little focus has been placed on developing prevention strategies with this age group but rather government focus has been aimed towards the financial burden the elderly

Suicide rates are at a 30-year high. Nearly 800,000 people commit suicide each year in the United States. (World Health Organization). Nearly every 30 seconds someone has completed a suicide, in addition, for every suicide that is completed, 20 people have tried to end their lives. Approximately 90% of all suicides committed in the United States have a direct relation to mental illness. The president and CEO of Mental Health America, Paul Gionfriddo, stated that “We must improve access to care and treatments, and we need to put a premium on early identification and early intervention for everyone with mental health concerns.” (mentalhealthAmerica). Without proper treatment and early detection, many families will continue to be affected by mental illness.

The American Foundation of Suicide Prevention is a non-profit organization acknowledges that suicide and mental health problems are part of our society and by understanding this we can better support those in need, and suicide affects a tremendous amount of people and proper education and treatment can prevent people from committing suicide. “Each year in the United States, suicide claims over 40,000 lives - more than war, murder, and natural disasters combined…Suicide is not just a faceless health issue for our society - it affects real people.” (1.) The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) which was founded in 1987, is one of the leaders in fighting against suicide by offers research, education to those in need, and supports those people and their families that are affected by suicide.

Persons with mental disorders make distorted judgments. Suicide is often a desperate step taken by individuals who consider their problems so intractable as to make their situations hopeless. But experts in psychology recognize the evaluations these individuals make of their personal situations are flawed.

One point eighty seconds. That is how much time there is between one death and the other (“World Death Clock,” n.d.). 40 seconds. That is how much time there is between one suicide and another (“Suicide Awareness Voices of Education,” n.d.). Although some might not take suicide as a major issue occurring worldwide, little do they know that it is the third leading cause of death for people between the ages 15 to 44 (“Mental Health,” n.d.). Among these different ages, men, are more likely to die this way than women (“Suicide Statistics,” n.d.). However, when thinking about this topic, many questions arise in ones head starting with, what is suicide? The most common definition is, “the act of killing oneself because he or she no longer wants

Three people in my life have completed suicide; my uncle, my mom’s late fiance, and my step brother on my dad’s side, within four years of each other. I’ve witnessed each parental figure in my life become compromised by grief and the inevitable pain accompanying it, and I’ve seen the way depression can plague someone so deeply, even without the ending of suicide. The prevalence and growing numbers of deaths by suicide calls for a revised manner of education on all mental illnesses and the preventative measures one can take to reduce risk. Initially, when I heard of the Suicide Prevention Week Keynote event with Jamie Tworkowski (founder of ‘To Write Love On Her Arms’) I was thrilled. Hosting such an event on a college campus, presenting to a population greatly affected by mental illness, is demonstrative of the steps that should be taken toward raising awareness. Any opportunity for a comprehensive view on mental health and its significance is one to be taken advantage of. However, as the night proceeded, I did take note of several things that would improve the layout of any future events, as well as further deepen an individual’s comprehension of mental illness.

Youth Suicide Introduction Suicide is a tragic event. It has a profound personal effect on all associated with the person who died. Families, friends and society as a whole are affected. There is a particular poignancy when the suicide is that of a young person at the threshold of life. Australia has the fifth highest suicide rate per 100 000 persons in the world.