We’re pleased to see a focus on suicide prevention before the start of the school year.
Over the past week, area Catholic school teachers/administrators attended “Signs of Suicide” training sponsored by the Anne Marie Project. Colleen Pace, a suicide prevention manager for Communities Healing Adolescent Depression and Suicide (CHADS), presented the training.
Another speaker at Monday’s event at Immaculate Conception School was Kay Scott, whose daughter, Maddie, attended the school when she was a child. Scott told the school staff members that Maddie died by suicide while attending college last year.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10-24 and the second leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18, according to the Parent Resource Program.
But suicide, like mental health, still is a taboo subject in our society. Maybe if we just close our eyes it will go away, right?
Only it’s not going away. More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease — combined.
So while suicide is tough to talk about, it’s also important to talk about.
On Monday, Immaculate Conception School Principal Heather Schrimpf said: “Every year, we’ve had students struggling with anxiety and depression. One of my teachers said we really should do this.”
One key to suicide prevention is to know that, in most cases, there will be signs before someone attempts to take his or her life.
Adolescents may experience anger or irritability, loss of interest in activities they once enjoyed, changes in weight or appetite, physical pain, feelings of sadness, excessive isolation, loss of energy or substance abuse, Pace said.
We commend the Anne Marie Project for holding the event and the United Way for funding the agency, in addition to everyone who worked to put on the training and who attended.
A continued focus on the subject will save lives.
For help or more information contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
News Tribune