State initiative seeks to stop suicides

Sept. 18--Tweet

A single suicide touches countless lives in a community, radiating out like ripples on a pond, and yet the number of people dead by their own hands increases every year.

The New York State Office of Mental Health announced on Monday a new statewide suicide prevention plan. It's named '1,700 Too Many' in honor of the 1,700 lives lost to suicide in New York state in 2014. The plan to reduce the state's suicide rate was made possible by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to integrate suicide prevention into health care and primary care, and train providers.

The announcement comes in the middle of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Suicide is increasing as a leading cause of death each year. Deaths by suicide have increased by more than 24 percent in the U.S. since 1999, according to the CDC, surpassing deaths by motor vehicle accidents, homicide, and breast cancer, while the numbers of annual deaths caused by heart disease, stroke and cancer have decreased at a comparable rate. 42,773 Americans died by suicide in 2014.

The plan is organized into three tiers. The first involves integrating prevention into day-to-day health and behavioral care, systems which aren't designed to reduce suicide. This includes a systematic adoption of The Zero Suicide Model to train doctors and clinicians in the identification and treatment of their at-risk patients.

The state sees a need for significant cultural changes. In the year before they committed suicide, on average only 35 percent of men and 58 percent of women sought mental health care. Seventy-eight percent of those men, however, visited their primary care provider within that year. Nearly two thirds of New York clinicians report receiving little to no suicide prevention training.

The second tier calls for coordinated community prevention. According to a statement by the Office of Mental Health, this approach intends to "help at-risk individuals foster connections, encouraging them to remain integrated within their communities, throughout their lives. It calls for increasing efforts to intervene at the earliest signs of trouble, before an individual becomes suicidal" as well as create suicide safer schools.

The third and final tier relies on data to inform suicide prevention efforts. The state plans to collect better data, use existing data more frequently, and find new ways for it to be open to and used by communities, organizations, and other state agencies. The New York State Office of Mental Health says that it hopes to integrate "lived experience" into policy making and planning.

While New York has the second lowest rate of suicide in the nation, behind only Washington D.C., Jefferson County has one of the highest rates in the state with 15.6 suicide deaths for every 100,000 people in 2015. Certain demographics are considered high-risk populations. In youths between the ages of 15 and 24, suicide is the second leading cause of death. Middle-aged men, 45 to 65, have the highest rate of death by suicide both statewide and nationally, and attempts by the elderly are most likely to result in death. Incarcerated individuals, especially youths in adult facilities, and veterans and active military are also at a higher risk.

For every death by suicide in the U.S., there are 25 attempts that are ultimately non-fatal. While 75 percent of lives lost to suicide in New York are men, women attempt suicide more frequently. Attempts by women are less likely to be fatal. Individual risk factors according to the Office of Mental Health include mental illness, alcohol and drug use, history of trauma, previous attempts, and non-suicidal self-injury such as self-cutting or burning. Survivors of suicide loss are also at a higher risk of taking their own lives.

In the north country, organizations including the Jefferson County Suicide Coalition and the St. Lawrence County Suicide Awareness Coalition work to prevent suicide and are open to new members. This month, Dr. Mariam Asar addressed signs of suicide as part of Canton-Potsdam Hospital's 'Ask the Physician' series.

An Out of the Darkness Walk will be at 11 a.m.Sept. 24 in Thompson Park in Watertown. For more information, visit afsp.donordrive.com or call Vicki Hill at 315-221-1240.

Hotline:

Reachout of St. Lawrence County (315) 265-2422

Crisis Response Jefferson County (315) 782-2327

National Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-8255

Veteran's Crisis Line 1-800-273-8255 ext. 1

Military OneSource hotline 800-342-9647

The Trevor Project LGBTQ hotline (call or text) 1-866-488-7386

National Alliance on Mental Illness Help Line 800-950-6264

Warning Signs of Suicide*

-Talking about wanting to die

-Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose

-Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain

-Talking about being a burden to others

-Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs

-Acting anxious, agitated or recklessly

-Sleeping too little or too much

-Withdrawing or feeling isolated

-Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge

-Displaying extreme mood swings

-Getting one's affairs in order

-A shift in mood from despair to calm

What to Do*

-Do not leave the person alone

-Remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt

-Call suicide or crisis hotline

-Take the person to an ER or seek help from a medical or mental health professional

*Provided by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and www.reportingonsuicide.org.

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