The trauma of 2020 has left so many throughout the county hurting.
Anxiety brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated people’s lives. Job loss, distancing measures and the lack of social outlets have left people grieving, taxing the mental health of both adults and young people.
Mental health experts fear that those factors may be leading to an increase in people dying by suicide.
“We know the calls to the suicide prevention hotline have increased, but we really won’t know the true data until much later, in terms of how it’s really affecting suicide rates,” said Hope Thompson, project coordinator for mental health nonprofit Upstream Prevention’s Mental Health Awareness and Training grant.
Suicide is increasingly a public health crisis, and prevention needs to be a community focus year-round. But officials have placed an emphasis on education about suicide prevention throughout the month of September, focusing their efforts to better help people understand the signs of someone who is struggling and what they can do to help.
Upstream Prevention, an organization that aims to support positive mental health, decrease suicides and address substance abuse in Johnson County, is offering free community trainings on suicide prevention. In addition, they are asking for the public’s help to fill out a survey, gauging their knowledge about mental health.
Each of the efforts is aimed at helping people understand the importance of mental health, and particularly ways to stem suicide.
“It’s everyone’s job to step in and assist someone in need,” Thompson said. “A lot of people don’t think they know what to do, how to help somebody. Just like physical health, if you saw someone collapse in front of you, you’d step in to help them. If we can normalize mental health and recognize these cues, we can make it OK to step in and help them.”
Death by suicide has been a growing problem in the U.S. over the past 20 years. The country reported in 2018 its highest age-adjusted suicide rate since 1941, according to the Journal of American Medicine. The journal found that 48,344 people died by suicide that year.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken an increasing toll on mental health. In June, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention found that 41% of all adults in the U.S. suffered one mental health effect, such as anxiety, depression or symptoms of trauma. The report stated that 11% of people were seriously considering suicide.
Those findings seem to be in line with what mental health professionals have seen locally, Thompson said. Regardless, the pandemic has undoubtedly been a mental health crisis for many.
“For many of us, it’s like going through the phases of grief: Denial, that this isn’t happening and will be over in a couple of weeks, to anger, that life is completely different, to now, people are starting to accept this is how we’re living right now,” Thompson said.
Even before the pandemic, Upstream Prevention had planned a push in September — Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. One of the most powerful tools the organization has is education, and staff members have intensified their efforts throughout the month. They planned a series of classes called QPR Gatekeeper trainings — short for Question, Persuade, Refer.
Participants are learning how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade and refer someone to help.
Warning signs include talking about killing themselves, feeling hopeless, having no reason to live or being a burden to others, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. An at-risk individual might withdraw from activities, isolating from family and friends, sleep too much or too little, or give away prized possessions.
They may exhibit signs such as depression, anxiety, loss of interest or irritability.
The training is aimed at going more in-depth about what those signs are and what to do if you see them in a friend or loved one.
“It’s a two-hour training that anyone can go through. It’s very basic, and helps you understand what you do if someone is in need of help — how do you listen to them, how do you show compassion, how do you ask for help,” Thompson said. “If you’re aware and watching for things, you can intervene before someone really hurts themselves, or worse.”
Staff at Upstream Prevention have also worked hard this month to make their mission of suicide prevention more visible. Daily social media posts advertise the trainings, provide facts and information about suicide and direct people to resources. The organization emphasized reaching youth, sending out a newsletter to administrators or guidance counselors at each school with information and resources for students and their parents.
The most recent effort has been to create a community awareness survey, to better grasp how well the public understands mental health and suicide prevention. Answering the short survey will help Upstream Prevention better target their efforts moving forward.
“We are trying to get more information from the community about what their perception of mental health is currently, so we can target our efforts even better,” Thompson said. “We’d love to have as many people in Johnson County as possible take the survey.”
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Something to look out for when concerned that a person may be suicidal is a change in behavior or the presence of entirely new behaviors. This is of sharpest concern if the new or changed behavior is related to a painful event, loss or change. Most people who take their lives exhibit one or more warning signs, either through what they say or what they do.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at (800) 273-8255.
If a person talks about:
- Killing themselves
- Feeling hopeless
- Having no reason to live
- Being a burden to others
- Feeling trapped
- Unbearable pain
Behaviors that may signal risk, especially if related to a painful event, loss or change:
- Increased use of alcohol or drugs
- Looking for a way to end their lives, such as searching online for methods
- Withdrawing from activities
- Isolating from family and friends
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Visiting or calling people to say goodbye
- Giving away prized possessions
- Aggression
- Fatigue
People who are considering suicide often display one or more of the following moods:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Loss of interest
- Irritability
- Humiliation/shame
- Agitation/anger
- Relief/sudden improvement
Source: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
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QPR Gatekeeper trainings
- What: Free community trainings teaching people how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.
- How: The trainings will be conducted virtually through Zoom
- Upcoming classes: 10 a.m. Monday; 6 p.m. Tuesday
- How to sign up: upstreamprevention.eventbrite.com
Community Awareness Survey
- What: Upstream Prevention, a nonprofit addressing mental health in Johnson County, is hoping to assess the level of knowledge and awareness of mental health.
- How: People can take a short online survey to help the organization understand ways to better educate the community.
- How to take part: Go to communityawareness.questionpro.com.
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