Trumbull County Suicide Prevention Coalition

Name Change

2010-03-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

Trumbull LifeLines changes name to Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board

Trumbull LifeLines is now the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board. The name change reflects the names of other similar boards in the state of Ohio. According to
April J. Caraway, executive director, “The goal of the name change is to increase awareness of what the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board does and to increase awareness initiatives about behavioral health issues and the stigma that surround them."
The mission of the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board is to improve the well being of our community by establishing and maintaining an effective, efficient and quality system of alcohol, drug and mental health services in Trumbull County.
“The Board has provided alcohol, drug and mental health services for 42 years in Trumbull County,” said Caraway. “We are an administrative agency that uses county, state, and federal funds to purchase behavioral health services from certified agencies. The Board is mandated by the Ohio Revised Code to provide countywide planning, coordination, and evaluation of alcohol, drug, and mental health services. The goal is to provide quality services in the least restrictive settings at the community level.”
For more information, visit the website at www.tlifelines.org. Or call 330-675-2765.

L.O.S.S. / S.O.S Candle Light Vigil

2008-10-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

L.O.S.S. (Loving OUtreach for Surviving Suicide) and S.O.S. (Survivors of Suicide) will hold it's 10th Annual Candle Light Vigil in rememberance of loved ones who died by suicide on:

Saturday, November 15, 2008

At 6:00 pm

At St. Pius X Church

1401 Moncrest NW, Warren, OH 44485

Participants are urged to bring a photo of their loved one.

For more information call L.O.S.S. at (330) 372-3020, (330) 898-5613 or Help Hotline Crisis Center, Inc. at 1-800-427-3606

Suicide rate remains steady

2008-09-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

By MARLY KOSINSKI-Tribune Chronicle

WARREN - The rate of suicide in Trumbull County appears to be on track with last year's record high of 41, according to Trumbull LifeLines, which said there have been 22 confirmed self-inflicted deaths through Aug. 20.
Suicide Prevention Awareness Week began Sunday, and Wednesday is World Suicide Prevention Day, according to Trumbull LifeLines coordinator Ilona Roth-Cohn. She also is a member of the Trumbull County Suicide Prevention Coalition, which will hold its monthly meeting Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, the trend does not seem to be going down," Roth-Cohn said, predicting an increase in the number of suicides this year.
If she is correct, it will be the third straight annual increase. There were 38 suicides in 2006 and 36 in 1999.
"A poor economy, job losses and foreclosures are new stressors adding to the typical stressors of relationship issues and substance abuse. Plus, the holidays are coming," Roth-Cohn said.
Roth-Cohn said based on 2008 statistics so far, most of the suicide victims in Trumbull County have been white men between the ages of 35 and 54, which mirrors the national trend from the past several years. She said that in 2006 and 2007, most of the victims were white men between 19 and 34.
"National statistics show men are more likely to commit suicide because they hold in their feelings and don't like to talk about depression, which is often a precursor to suicide," Roth-Cohn said.
She said the goal of Suicide Prevention Awareness Week is to promote prevention because there are more than 1 million suicides committed each year, which is the equivalent of one suicide every 40 seconds. Even more alarming, Roth-Cohn said, is that for every suicide completed there are between 10 and 20 attempts.
"It's a major public health risk," she said.
Don Dickens, director of Trumbull 211, said his agency has been handling suicide prevention since 1971 and is part of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. He said there was a nationwide spike in suicides following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as well as an increase in the South following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
He said nationally, 70 to 80 percent of suicides are committed by white men older than 35.
"Untreated depression is the most common cause, but a variety of factors contribute to the depression, including job loss, relationship problems and death of a loved one," Dickens said.
He said the way to reverse the rising number of suicides is to focus on prevention and not just intervention.
"There's still a stigma attached to it that says someone is more likely to commit suicide if they talk to someone about it. But the reality is that they want to talk about it. That's why the hotline exists," he said.
Cathy Grizinski, associate director for Help Hotline of Mahoning and Columbiana County, said the hotline has been seeing a steady increase in calls over the past two years. However, she said more people are calling who actually have a plan in place.
"That shows there's still some hope left for them and they are reaching out for any help available," she said.
Mahoning County had 33 suicides in 2007, compared to 41 in Trumbull.

2008-07-01T05:59:00.001-07:00

It's one of the leading causes of death of teenagers, yet there's still a stigma attached to talking about suicide.
Bonnie McClelland, who lost her son to suicide, is working to break down those barriers and educate families, so they don't suffer the way she has.
As she read a poem to a group at the First Lutheran Church in Clearwater, emotions overwhelmed Bonnie.
The poem is about love and life. The message is a personal one.
"When I opened that door, my life was deleted in a nanosecond," Bonnie said.
Bonnie's 17-year-old son, Tim, committed suicide six years ago.
In the note he left, was a message she took to heart.
"It said 'Learn from this and help each other,' so that's the only job I have left as a mom," she said.
McClelland did just that and started the Suncoast Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Organization.
She goes around the Bay area, educating groups of all ages about suicide, hoping to spare other families from the same tragedy.
Tim's best friend, Sebastian Uranczyk, says Bonnie's Yellow Ribbon Organization has helped keep some of his other friends from taking that ultimate step.
"I've taken friends to her who are suicidal," Uranczyk said. "They just break down crying. I either won't let them stay alone for the night or take them to Bonnie's and she'd talk to them, and they're all still alive -- they're doing better and come back and thanked me and her."
Other mothers dealing with suicide, such as Marlene Jehs, are thankful as well. The chapter director says Bonnie has been a shoulder to lean on since her son committed killed himself in 2005.
She says Bonnie has also provided her an outlet for her pain and may just stop the pain for more hurting teenagers out there.
"That grief energy needs to go somewhere, and we don't want this to happen to anybody else," Jehs said.

Happy 40th Anniversary LifeLines

2008-06-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Suicide Rememberance Walk

2008-05-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

The Trumbull County Suicide Coalition participated in the 1st Annual Suicide Rememberance Walk on Saturday May 17th. It was rainy day but miraculously the rain stopped in time for us to do the walk, and started again when we were done. Below are some pictures of the day taken by our local newspaper.

2008-05-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

2008-05-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

2008-05-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

2008-05-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

Quick Facts About Suicide

2008-05-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

Suicide is a major, public health problem
More than 31,000 Americans die by suicide each year.
There is 1 suicide every 16 minutes and 88 suicides per day.

Suicide is the:
- 11th leading cause of death overall in America; 1 - 3rd leading cause of death for young
Americans between the ages of 10-24; and
- 2nd leading cause of death for American college-aged students.

There are an estimated 1.4 million attempts per year in the U.S.
For every suicide death there are an estimated six new survivors.
Suicide is an often ignored and stigmatized topic
Suicide deaths consistently outnumber homicide deaths by a margin of three to two.
There are more suicides globally than deaths from war and violence combined.
Approximately twice as many Americans die by suicides than from HIV/AIDS.

Suicides can be prevented
More than 90 percent of people who die by suicide have depression or her diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder.
In a national poll, 78 percent of Americans think that many suicides are preventable with appropriate research, interventions and services,
And 86% of Americans surveyed think it is important to invest in the prevention of suicide.
Risk and protective factors can vary according to age, gender, ethnic group, or occupation, and can vary over time. Some examples, are:
20% of all suicide deaths occur among veterans.
More women attempt suicide, more men die by suicide.
80% of completed suicides are men.
Elderly comprise 12.6% of the population yet account for 16% of suicides.1
Older white men have the highest suicide rate of all age groups.
According to several nationally representative studies, in any given year, about 5% to 7% of adults have a serious mental illness. A similar percentage of children (about 5% to 9%) have a serious emotional disturbance.
These figures mean that millions of adults and children are disabled by mental illnesses every year.
In addition to the tragedy of lost lives, mental illnesses come with a devastatingly high financial cost. In the U.S., the annual economic, indirect cost of mental illnesses is estimated to be $79 billion ($63 billion in lost productivity, $12 billion in mortality costs, and $4 billion in productivity losses for incarcerated individuals and for the time of those who provide family care).

Suicide awareness walk Saturday: Event planned for Courthouse Park in downtown Warren

2008-05-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

WARREN — Suicide victim Valerie Kopiak loved sunflowers, so it seems appropriate that chocolate suckers shaped like sunflowers will be distributed Saturday during the inaugural Suicide Survivors Awareness Walk.

Kopiak took a lethal dose of prescription pills on Nov. 18, 1998, and died 11 days later at the age of 19.

Her mother, Mary Kopiak, is one of the organizers of the walk to be held at the Courthouse Park gazebo in downtown Warren. The event is being sponsored by Loving Outreach to Survivors, Help Hotline Crisis Center, Survivors of Suicide and the Trumbull and Mahoning County Suicide Prevention Coalitions.

In addition to the sunflower suckers, participants will receive yellow ribbons to wear. The ribbons represent hope, according to the Web site of the national Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program.

Eight large, yellow ribbons will be placed around the gazebo, and tables will be set up to display information from various mental health organizations, as well as pamphlets on suicide prevention.

Kopiak said the walk is the brainchild of Cathy Grizinski of Help Hotline of Mahoning County. She said November will be the 10th anniversary of the annual suicide awareness candlelight vigil held at St. Pius X Church in Warren, and also will be the 10th anniversary of her daughter’s death.

The vigil has grown each year, Kopiak said, but walk organizers wanted to do something extra since Trumbull County’s suicide rate has been on the rise the past five years. In 2007, the county recorded 41 suicides, according to the Coroner’s Office.

She said National Suicide Awareness Day is observed the third Saturday of November, which is when the local suicide vigil is held.

Bob Rattay, another walk organizer and member of L.O.S.S., said he is hoping for a good turnout at Saturday. However, he is concerned that the stigma attached to suicide could keep participants away.

Grizinski said she will have each walker stop at the four corners of the park to represent the tasks of grief for suicide survivors: telling your story; expressing your grief; making meaning from the loss; and developing a new relationship with your loved one.

‘‘Everyone approaches the tasks differently and everyone is on a different path to healing,’’ Grizinski said. ‘‘Some people develop a new relationship by turning their loved one into an angel that acts as the survivor’s protector. Making meaning from the loss is usually the most difficult task.’’

Walkers are encouraged to carry photos or other mementoes of their loved ones as they walk. The event also will include survivor stories.

In Honor of Mother's Day

2008-05-14T12:09:00.001-07:00

Some Moms (and Dads) Don't Get a Perfect Ending

Erma Bombeck

If you are looking for answers this Mother's Day on why God reclaimed
your child, I don't know.

I only know that thousands of mothers out there today desperately need
an answer as to why they were permitted to go through the elation of
carrying a child and then lose it to a miscarriage, accident,
violence, disease, or drugs.

Motherhood isn't just a series of contractions; it's a state of mind.
From the moment we know life is inside us, we feel a responsibility to
protect and defend that human being. It is a promise we can't keep.

We beat ourselves to death over that pledge. "If only I hadn't worked
through the eighth month." "If I had taken him to the doctor when he
had a fever."
"If I hadn't let him use the car that night." "If I hadn't been so
naive, I'd have noticed he was on drugs."

The longer I live, the more convinced I become that surviving changes
us. After the bitterness, the anger, the guilt, and the despair are
tempered by time, we look at life differently.

While I was writing my book "I Want to Grow Hair. I Want to Grow Up. I
Want to Go to Boise," I talked with mothers who had lost a child to
cancer. Every single one said that death gave their lives new meaning
and purpose. And who do you think prepared them for the rough,
lonely road they had to travel?

Their dying child. They pointed their mothers toward the future and
told them to keep going. The children had already accepted what their
mothers were fighting to reject.

The children in the bombed-out nursery in Oklahoma City have touched
more lives than they will ever know. Workers who had probably given
their kids a mechanical pat on the head without thinking that morning
were making calls home during the day to their children to say, "I
love you."

This may sound like a strange Mother's Day column on a day when joy
and life abound for millions of mothers throughout the country. But it
is also a day of appreciation and respect. I can think of no mother
who deserves it more than those who had to give a child back.

In the face of adversity we are not permitted to ask, "Why me?" You
can ask, but you won't get an answer. Maybe you are the instrument who
is left behind to perpetuate what was lost and appreciate the time you
had with it.

The late Gilda Radner summed it up pretty well. "I wanted a perfect
ending. Now I've learned the hard way that some poems don't rhyme and
some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is
about not knowing, having to change, and taking the moment and making
the best of it, without knowing what is going to happen next.
Delicious ambiguity."

--Erma Bombeck

2008-04-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

Suicides increase again in Trumbull
Prevention coalition seeks solutions

By MARLY KOSINSKI Tribune Chronicle
POSTED: April 13, 2008

Fact Box
Methods of suicide in Trumbull County 2001-2007:

Firearms — 98
Hanging — 51
Overdose — 42
Carbon monoxide — 7
Other — 13

Anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who needs help can call the LifeLines Access Center at 330-393-1565. Or, dial 211 for 24-hour emergency services. For more information on suicide prevention, visit the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation at www.ohiospf.org.

For the second straight year, Trumbull County saw an increase in suicides, with 41 people taking their own lives in 2007.

The Trumbull County Coroner’s Office has four cases from last year still pending lab results, meaning the final number could reach 45. There were 38 suicides in 2006, which surpassed a previous seven-year high of 36 in 1999.

Of the 41 suicides last year, 33 of the victims were men and all of the victims were white. The victim left a note in 10 of the cases.

The numbers are alarming, according to Ilona Roth-Cohn, program coordinator for Trumbull LifeLines, the county’s alcohol, drug addiction and mental health services board. She also is a member of the Trumbull County Suicide Prevention Coalition, which meets monthly to try to combat the rising number of suicides.

Shelley Mazanetz, an investigator with the Trumbull County Coroner’s Office, said the most common suicide victim is a middle-aged white man. However, 17 of the suicide victims last year were between the ages of 16 and 30, and six were older than 60.

April Caraway, director of programs and community outreach for Trumbull LifeLines, said Trumbull County is seeing more suicides in the 18 to 24 age range than the state average, where most victims are in their 40s and 50s.

‘‘Here, we have a depressed economy and many young people with little or no education,’’ she said.

Mazanetz said there are certain stressors or triggers associated with each age bracket. She said relationship issues generally are the triggers for victims in their 20s, job loss is the stressor for middle-aged victims and failing health is the trigger for elderly victims.

To address each one, the coalition discussed age-specific prevention programming at its most recent meeting. Members brainstormed agencies and programs that could incorporate suicide prevention to reach a broader segment of the community.

Caraway said suicide prevention should go beyond the usual mental health and addiction service programs.

‘‘A lot of these victims have never been touched by one of our outreach agencies. There are so many avenues to deal with addiction and mental health issues, but the suicide numbers are continuing to rise. That tells us there are gaps in our programming and we need to reach the people who are at risk where they are because they probably won’t seek help,’’ she said.

Caraway said many times, suicide is an impulse decision fueled by depression, drugs and alcohol.

‘‘Their relationship ends, they’re drinking, they become suicidal. They lose their job, they’re drinking, they become suicidal,’’ she said.

Roth-Cohn said the coalition was concerned there would be a spike in suicides following the buyouts from General Motors and Delphi in 2006. That didn’t happen, but she said the county still may see a suicide spike from workers who took the buyout and cannot find another job or from workers who have been laid off this year at Indalex, General Electric and other plants.

It’s that segment of the population that prompted Trumbull County forensic pathologist Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk to seek help from a union counselor for the Mahoning-Trumbull AFL-CIO. Union counselor Cindy Michael of Warren is trained in areas such as credit counseling, food distribution and utility assistance. The workers are referred by supervisors to counselors.

She would like to offer a class on suicide prevention in counselor training. Until then she’s asking for LifeLines’ help on teaching the signs of suicide and where to seek help.

She said through coalition discussions, she learned one of the catalysts for suicide is relationship problems.

‘‘Most relationship problems stem from financial issues and job loss. That’s where I connected the dots,’’ Michael said.

In addition, Trumbull County Suicide Prevention Coalition is looking to reach out to displaced workers through the Job and Family Services One Stop Center, Kent State University and Trumbull Career and Technical Center — places where workers may go for job training and education.

To reach out to elderly people who may be at risk for suicide, the coalition discussed holding presentations at SCOPE centers, posting fliers at the Social Security Administration office, and partnering with the Office of Elderly Affairs.

“Suicide is not just a personal issue. It’s a societal issue,” Roth-Cohn said.

2008-03-04T10:14:00.001-08:00

CARRYING ON AFTER SUICIDE
by Bob Sheldon, Westerlo, New York

As I look into the beautiful face of my five-year-old niece, she brings
me much joy. Yet there are also silent sighs of sadness as I remember her
father's death. Her father, my brother-in-law, completed suicide in 1995.

When I listen to the voice of my best friend's brother on the phone, and he
reports the latest positive changes in his life, it brings me encouragement.

But I also feel disappointment as I reflect on why I am talking to my best
friend's brother and not to him. His brother, my very best friend since
childhood, committed suicide two years ago.

I could never have prepared for the shock of the suicide of someone I
love, nor the aftershocks that keep vibrating in the very core of my
existence.
The initial damage causes much confusion, but over time, when one is able to

step back and survey the damage, one sees that the devastation of suicide is

greater than first anticipated. Life is forever changed. Nothing will ever
be
the same again. There is no going back, and there are no quick fixes for
what
is ahead. There are no easy answers. Suicide is a knockout punch. Two
suicides threatened to keep me down for the count.

As one who works with troubled youth as a profession, I have studied
suicide and know the statistics. I have counseled suicidal youth and
parents. But
I really didn't know about suicide until the impossible, the unthinkable,
"It

can't happen to someone I love" became a reality. Two of the very closest
people to me on earth, two of my key relationships, two of "my people,"
chose
to
end their lives within the span of fifteen months.

My brother-in-law, Chris, and my best friend, Bill, were very different
people, but they each chose suicide. Different paths eventually led to the
same
end. I gave the eulogies at both funerals. I quickly learned what suicide
was all about, not from study but from life. Not secondhand but a
first-heart
experience, that gave way to a bruised, battered and broken heart. As John
Claypool reflects, "Just like a broken leg, a broken heart heals slowly and
cannot stand much touching right after the break."

It takes so long, and we wonder if our hearts will ever be made whole or
be healed. I'd like to believe that Ernest Hemingway's statement, "The world

breaks everyone, and afterward many are stronger at the broken places." As a

person of faith, I call out to Jesus to heal my broken heart and lighten the

deep hurt within me.

I am reminded of the prayer of the psalmist who cried out to God, "When I
called, you answered me, you made me bold and stouthearted." (Psalm 136:3.)
Though one needs to be stouthearted and determined to come out on the other
side of this terrible darkness, every part of me wanted to flee from the
suffocating darkness that hung over my head. Sometimes I still want to turn
around
and run.

Yet it seems to me that the only way out of this grief is through it - not

around, under, over, or retreating from it. I must let the deep pain hurt.
I must sorrow. I must question. I must cry. I must unload on friends and
not keep this bottled up in me. The darkness is so great, and I am afraid.
Yet
I know I cannot outrun it.

It's like an metaphor I once heard: "As the sun is setting, the darkness
is coming, and if I try to outrun the darkness and keep running west, the
sun

will surely set and I will be left in the dark. I cannot outrun or avoid the

darkness. But if I decide to face the darkness and run east, it will be
dark,
but eventually I will run into the sunrise and into the light."

I am able to choose which direction I will go. I have very little control

over whether another person chooses to live or die, but I can choose the
direction of my own life. Since the darkness is unavoidable, I can absorb it

and
learn what it has to offer. It is only by stepping into the darkness that I
can ever hope to see the sun come out again.

As I survey the landscape of lives in the aftermath of suicide, I see some
shattered lives because poor choices were made.

Survivors are physically alive, but they have also committed a sort of
suicide.

Their former lives are unrecognizable, and they are dead to things they once

held dear. They have not recovered. Then I see others who were shocked into

living better lives and have chosen to be different now. Why the difference?

I'm not sure I know.

I do know that avoiding the reality is not the path to take. The narrow
path, the uphill climb, the facing of the darkness, is the slow road. It's
slow
because grieving is such exhausting work. One must trudge through all sorts
of
stuff to move on, because it's an uphill climb and it's uncharted territory.

We haven't been there before. No one can prepare for this marathon of
misery. We have been suddenly thrust into this exhausting race wondering if
we will
get our second wind.

Since I couldn't prepare for this ahead of time, I must look to others who
have been thrown into this race as I was - others who have experienced the
death
of a loved one through suicide. How did they climb the mountains that they
faced? How did they stumble through the darkness without falling off the
narrow path? How did they manage to take another breath when they felt
suffocated? How did they come out on the other side?

Questions with no easy answers, but questions that need to be asked out loud

to allow us to tell our stories. There is a healing in speaking about
suicide, by calling on our memories and using metaphors. Suicide is a harsh
word,
but it is fitting because it is such a harsh loss. Speaking about it breaks
not
only the silence and secrecy but the chains that hold me back and threaten
to

choke the life out of me as well.

I will continue to remember these two precious ones I lost to suicide. I
will continue to tell their stories and my story to those brave enough to
listen. I will continue to acknowledge my loss and admit that when they
died, some
things deep within me died as well.

I will continue to help those who are losing their hope, not to choose
suicide, for I know the devastation and multiplication of pain it causes. I
will
continue to trudge through my rocky road. I will walk on with those who have

lost as I have and help them on their journey. I will keep looking into the
eyes of my beautiful niece even if I see her father. I will keep talking on
the
phone to Bill's brother even if I hear Bill's voice. I will continue on.

I will carry on.

Bereavement Magazine, Jan/Feb/2000
reprinted with permission from Bereavement Publishing Inc., 4765 North
Carefree Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 80917, 888-604-4673,
www.bereavementmag.com

2008-03-03T08:19:00.000-08:00

Change seen in teen suicide methods

By Nora Achrati
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Before 1997, the overwhelming majority of young people who
committed suicide used guns. But that's changing.

In recent years, teenagers who choose to kill themselves - young teens
especially - turned more often to hanging or other types of suffocation than to
shooting, according to a report Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the Atlanta-based federal health protection agency.

Finding out why teens are changing their methods is key to developing better
suicide-prevention programs, researchers say.

The findings are discussed in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report, a summary of new health research published by the CDC.

Suicide is the third leading killer of young people ages 10 to 19, with about
2,000 deaths in the United States each year. It ranks 11th in causes of death
nationwide. The new report, which looked at trends in teen suicides from 1992
to 2001, shows the suicide rate among young people has fallen in the past
decade. But the methods used by teens have changed dramatically.

In young teens and preteens - those ages 10 to 14 - the change is especially
striking: From 1992 to 2001, the number of suicides by suffocation rose 70
percent, while the number of firearm deaths dropped by nearly half. Suicide by
suffocation now outnumbers suicide by firearm nearly 2 to 1.

The majority of teens ages 15 to 19 who commit suicide still turn to guns,
the report said, though the number of those who use guns has been dropping.
Meanwhile, the number of older teens who turn to suffocation is rising.

That teenagers who commit suicide are shying away from firearms may reflect
trends in gun ownership and attitudes. Studies at the University of Chicago
show a decrease in handgun ownership in the1990s, and in CDC surveys, fewer
children say they've handled guns.

"I think what you're seeing is sort of gradual social shift against
firearms," said Dr. David Shaffer, the chief psychiatrist at Columbia University's
division of child and adolescent psychiatry and developer of a program to screen
for depression in teenagers.

For Shaffer and others who study suicide prevention, the report indicates
that identifying a means of suicide isn't enough to stop one.

Shaffer cites studies in Australia that showed a steep decline in
gun-inflicted suicides after strict gun-control measures were passed in the early 1990s.
That drop was matched by a near-simultaneous increase in hangings.

"The history has always been that trying to control suicide by changing
access to methods doesn't work for very long," Shaffer said. "What we should be
looking at is proper diagnosis and treatment, and increasing the public's
awareness of what mental illness in kids look like."

For Mark Chaffee of San Diego, Calif., the essential message is that suicide
prevention takes many tacks. In 1998, Chaffee lost his 16-year-old son to a
self-inflicted gunshot wound. He says the means of death didn't mattered.

"It's just the loss," he said. "It's unspeakable. It is the nightmare that
you would not wish on your worst enemy. ... It doesn't matter how it happens."

Shaffer now leads the California chapter of the Suicide Prevention Action
Network, or SPAN, which works to educate the public on suicide risks,
particularly in teens.

"It's preventable," he said. "It's not inevitable. It's not acceptable."

The CDC report found other patterns in teen suicide.

-An association between suicide attempts and violent behavior: More than 60
percent of high school students who said they attempted suicide in the past
year also said they'd been involved in a physical fight, although most kids
involved in fights in school don't report having tried to commit suicide.

-A link between school shootings and suicide: 22 percent of students who
carried out shootings at school between 1994 and 1999 committed suicide afterward,
researchers found. The CDC recommends that violence prevention efforts in
schools also target suicidal behavior.

-Researchers found suicide was also the third leading cause of death among
young Latinos in the United States, the fastest-growing segment of the
population. Young men made up the vast majority of suicides.

2008-03-03T08:01:00.001-08:00

This is from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. (Link at the end.)
Glossary

This glossary was abridged and adapted from one published in the National
Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action. Rockville, MD:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 2001.

Affective disorders – see mood disorders

Best practices – activities or programs that are in keeping with the best
available evidence regarding what is effective

Bipolar disorder – a mood disorder characterized by the presence or history
of manic episodes, usually, but not necessarily, alternating with depressive
episodes

Causal factor – a condition that alone is sufficient to produce a disorder

Comorbidity – the co-occurrence of two or more disorders, such as depressive
disorder with substance abuse disorder

Consumer – a person using or having used a health service

Contagion – a phenomenon whereby susceptible persons are influenced towards
suicidal behavior through knowledge of another person's suicidal acts

Culturally appropriate – the ability of an organization or program to be
effective across cultures, including the ability to honor and respect the beliefs,
language, interpersonal styles, and behaviors of individuals and families
receiving services

Depression – a constellation of emotional, cognitive and somatic signs and
symptoms, including sustained sad mood or lack of pleasure

Effective – prevention programs that have been scientifically evaluated and
shown to decrease an adverse outcome or increase a beneficial outcome in the
target group more than in a comparison group

Environmental approach – an approach that attempts to influence either the
physical environment (such as reducing access to lethal means) or the social
environment (such as providing work or academic opportunities)

Epidemiology – the study of statistics and trends in health and disease
across communities

Evaluation – the systematic investigation of the value and impact of an
intervention or program

Evidence-based – programs that have undergone scientific evaluation and have
proven to be effective

Frequency – the number of occurrences of a disease or injury in a given unit
of time; with respect to suicide, frequency applies only to suicidal behaviors
which can repeat over time.

Gatekeepers (suicide gatekeepers) – individuals trained to identify persons
at risk of suicide and refer them to treatment or supporting services as
appropriate

Goal – a broad statement of general purpose to guide planning, focused on the
end result of the work

Indicated prevention intervention – intervention designed for individuals at
high risk for a condition or disorder or for those who have already exhibited
the condition or disorder

Intervention – a strategy or approach that is intended to prevent an outcome
or to alter the course of an existing condition (such as strengthening social
support in a community)

Means – the instrument or object whereby a self-destructive act is carried
out (i.e., firearm, poison, medication)

Means restriction – activities designed to reduce access or availability to
means and methods of deliberate self-harm

Methods – actions or techniques which result in an individual inflicting
self-harm (i.e., asphyxiation, overdose, jumping)

Mood disorders – mental disorders that are characterized by a prominent or
persistent mood disturbance; disturbances can be in the direction of elevated
expansive emotional states, or, if in the opposite direction, depressed
emotional states. Included are Depressive Disorders, Bipolar Disorders, mood disorders
due to a medical condition, and substance-induced mood disorders

Objective – a specific and measurable statement that clearly identifies what
is to be achieved in a plan; it narrows a goal by specifying who, what, when
and where or clarifies by how much, how many, or how often

Outcome – a measurable change in the health of an individual or group of
people that is attributable to an intervention

Personality disorders – a class of mental disorders characterized by deeply
ingrained, often inflexible, maladaptive patterns of relating, perceiving, and
thinking of sufficient severity to cause either impairment in functioning or
distress

Postvention – a strategy or approach that is implemented after a crisis or
traumatic event has occurred

Prevention – a strategy or approach that reduces the likelihood of risk of
onset, or delays the onset of adverse health problems or reduces the harm
resulting from conditions or behaviors

Protective factors – factors that make it less likely that individuals will
develop a disorder; protective factors may encompass biological, psychological
or social factors in the individual, family and environment

Public information campaigns – efforts designed to provide facts to the
general public through various media such as radio, television, advertisements,
newspapers, magazines, and billboards

Public health approach – the systematic approach using five basic
evidence-based steps, which are applicable to any health problem that threatens
substantial portions of a group or population. The five steps include defining the
problem, identifying causes, developing and testing interventions, implementing
interventions and evaluating interventions

Rate – the number per unit of the population with a particular
characteristic, for a given unit of time

Resilience – capacities within a person that promote positive outcomes, such
as mental health and well-being, and provide protection from factors that
might otherwise place that person at risk for adverse health outcomes

Risk factors – factors that make it more likely that individuals will develop
a disorder; risk factors may encompass biological, psychological or social
factors in the individual, family and environment

Screening – administration of an assessment tool to identify persons in need
of more in-depth evaluation or treatment

Selective prevention intervention – intervention targeted to subgroups of the
population whose risk of developing a health problem is significantly higher
than average

Social support – assistance that may include companionship, emotional
backing, cognitive guidance, material aid and special services

Stakeholders – entities, including organizations, groups and individuals,
which are affected by and contribute to decisions, consultations and policies

Suicidal act (also referred to as suicide attempt) – potentially
self-injurious behavior for which there is evidence that the person probably intended to
kill himself or herself; a suicidal act may result in death, injuries, or no
injuries

Suicidal behavior – a spectrum of activities related to thoughts and
behaviors that include suicidal thinking, suicide attempts, and completed suicide

Suicidal ideation – thoughts of engaging in suicide-related behavior

Suicidality – a term that encompasses suicidal thoughts, ideation, plans,
suicide attempts, and completed suicide

Suicide – death from injury, poisoning, or suffocation where there is
evidence that a self-inflicted act led to the person's death

Suicide attempt – a potentially self-injurious behavior with a nonfatal
outcome, for which there is evidence that the person intended to kill himself or
herself; a suicide attempt may or may not result in injuries

Suicide attempt survivors – individuals who have survived a prior suicide
attempt

Suicide survivors – family members, significant others, or acquaintances who
have experienced the loss of a loved one due to suicide; sometimes this term
is also used to mean suicide attempt survivors

Surveillance – the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis and
interpretation of health data with timely dissemination of findings

Universal preventive intervention – intervention targeted to a defined
population, regardless of risk; (this could be an entire school, for example, and
not the general population per se)

http://www.sprc.org/suicide_prev_basics/glossary.asp

2008-01-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

POSTED: January 19, 2008

ORCHID: To the Trumbull County Suicide Prevention Coalition for their efforts in trying to curb the disturbing trend of increased self-inflicted deaths here. While education is key, it is groups like this that are trying to make a difference in our community. For information on becoming a part of the coalition, call LifeLines at 330-675-2765.

2008-01-28T08:05:00.001-08:00

In Ohio, there are three suicides each day.