I'm a college freshman and so often my friends are hurting. Their pain varies in severity but sometimes it's very severe. We go through break ups, we struggle with school, we have deaths in our family and so many other things that bring sadness. My main inspiration to believe in better things, Jamie Tworkowski, the creator of the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms says, "“You’ll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips. Airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs, but people more than anything else. You will need other people and you will need to be that other person to someone else, a living breathing screaming invitation to believe better things.”
I spent my four years of high school leading a suicide prevention club that put an emphasis on mental illness awareness and an had an overall philosophy of no one ever feeling alone. When I was invited to join the club at my high school, it was intimidating because it was a big undertaking. My passion for mental health awareness and suicide prevention out shined my fear and the club took off. It wasn't long before my phone felt like it doubled as a suicide prevention crisis line and it became too much for me. I'm not a mental health counselor, I'm a nineteen year old girl who at the time was fifteen and did not have the resources to help these people alone. But since then, I've learned how to get help in my community.
I was lucky to go to a high school where my guidance counselor doubled as a friend. I felt comfortable reaching out to her when I was worried about another student and she always helped me get them help. However, now that i'm out of school when i'm in these situations they often become overbearing and leave me feeling helpless. I still have friends who are struggling but what do we do when do not have the words to fix the broken? We can't do it alone.
We have an epidemic of mental illness in our country and this past year suicide rates have spiked nearly 30%. It's something many people don't want to talk about because it's uncomfortable. I think we think that by talking about suicide we plant the seeds in each others minds, but according to the “Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide” this is false. I'm not a mental health expert and I won't pretend to be, but as an informed individual of society, I will tell you that every 12 minutes someone in the United States dies by suicide, and 90% of those individuals have a mental disorder at the time of their death. I will tell you that if you learn the signs of suicide, in your lifetime, you will save a life. Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24 and we have the power to help them...but not alone.
Listen to them and take what they are saying seriously. If they exhibit risk signs you need to take immediate action.
The center for disease control lists these on their website as risk factors but factors are not limited to this list.
- Family history of suicide
- Family history of child maltreatment
- Previous suicide attempt(s)
- History of mental disorders, particularly clinical depression
- History of alcohol and substance abuse
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Impulsive or aggressive tendencies
- Cultural and religious beliefs (e.g., belief that suicide is noble resolution of a personal dilemma)
- Local epidemics of suicide
- Isolation, a feeling of being cut off from other people
- Barriers to accessing mental health treatment
- Loss (relational, social, work, or financial)
- Physical illness
- Easy access to lethal methods
- Unwillingness to seek help because of the stigma attached to mental health and substance abuse disorders or to suicidal thoughts
Take action and call 911. This is not a situation that you can handle alone. If you are not trained on how to handle this situation, you shouldn't be handling it.
Keep the conversation going and let it be in the hands of professionals.
It’s time to take this conversation out of the darkness and into the light. If we learn how to help others we can save lives.
Linda Hupf says it best. “...if you really desire to make a difference, put on a pair of shoes that fit. The sooner our community feels comfortable walking, we can begin running to meet the challenge that stigma and suicide present.”
