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Coming Together During the Holiday Season to Prevent Suicides

To all of you doing this work out in our community,

I have been asked to provide guidance in several organizations during this Holiday Season.

I would like to start a trend in our community when it comes to preventing suicides, “CONNECTIVENESS MATTERS”

Positive and supportive social relationships and community connections can help buffer the effects of suicide risk factors in people’s lives.

Social support and connections are the key protective factors to prevent suicides in our community. Programs and practices which promote social connectiveness and supports are an element of a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention.

This Holiday Season I would like all of you to promote Connectiveness in activities you embark on during this holiday season, in addition continue it throughout the year as the highest time of the year where we loose community members to suicide are spring time and September.  We get more people help during the holidays because we have broken down some of the taboo and stigma of depression during the holidays.

Connectiveness can include:1

  • Connectiveness between individuals (e.g., friends, neighbors, co-workers)
  • Connectiveness among family members, remember this can be difficult as 75% of our Clark County community members came from somewhere else and hence family might be limited here in Clark County for some.
  • Connectiveness to community organizations (e.g., schools, faith communities)
  • The connection of groups (e.g., minority groups) to their cultural traditions and history

Connectiveness and support can be enhanced through social programs directed at specific groups (such as older adults or LGBT youth), as well as through activities that support the development of positive and supportive communities.

Take Action

  • Support the development of relationships between youth and positive adults in their lives (e.g., teachers, coaches).
  • Build connections among co-workers, connect with individuals who might be isolating themselves.
  • Help build positive attachments between families and organizations in the community (e.g., schools and tribal and faith-based organizations).
  • Increase supportive connections in your social organizations.
  • Create and sustain peer-delivered services and support groups.
  • Implement activities in educational institutions that help students increase and strengthen their social networks and connections.

It’s important to remember that not all social connections are healthy. Suicide prevention programs should promote practices leading to positive and supportive relationships.

 Reference

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Strategic direction for the prevention of suicidal behavior: Promoting individual, family, and community connectedness to prevent suicidal behavior. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/Suicide_Strategic_Direction_Fu….

If you or someone you know is in a crisis and at risk for suicide, please call the National Suicide LifeLine—1-800-273-8255

Richard Egan
Suicide Prevention Training and Outreach Facilitator

Nevada Department of Health and Human Services

Division of Public & Behavioral Health | CFCW-Office of Suicide Prevention

3811 W. Charleston Blvd., Suite 210 |Las Vegas, NV  89102
T: (702) 486-8225 |F: (702) 486-5250|E: regan@health.nv.gov

www.dhhs.nv.gov | http://suicideprevention.nv.gov/

Helping People.  It’s who we are and what we do.Find help 24/7 by dialing 2-1-1; texting 898-211; or visiting www.nevada211.org

The 12th Annual “Walk in Memory, Walk for Hope” Sept. 15 in Nevada

Posted on 

Monday September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day, and to bring awareness, the Governor’s Mansion, the State Capitol in Carson City, the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, the Las Vegas City Hall and the Grand Sierra Resort in are “Turning Nevada Teal and Purple.” You’re encouraged to wear something with those colors today. Suicide Prevention Week 2018, September 9th through the 15th, is highlighted in Nevada by the 12th Annual “Walk in Memory, Walk for Hope” on Sept. 15 in 12 communities across the state. The goal of the event is to increase awareness of the effects suicide has on our nation and state, and to remember those who have been lost to suicide. Find a walk in your area at nvsuicideprevention.org

July 2018 Newsletter & Happy 4th of July from NCSP!

In This Issue: Walk in Memory Walk for Hope. Recent Statistics. Get Involved

2018 WALK IN MEMORY WALK FOR HOPE

The 12th Annual “Walk in Memory – Walk for Hope” community suicide prevention awareness walk will be taking place on Saturday, September 15, 2018, in fourteen different communities across the State of Nevada. All walkers are welcome, and all donations are gratefully accepted. Contributions go to the Nevada Coalition for Suicide Prevention to advance its mission.

Download the 2018 WMWH Flyer

This year, we will also be holding our first ever Registration Challenge!  Any helping agencies in Nevada who provide resources, services, or research to prevent suicide are invited to participate. The organization who refers the most number of Walk attendees (minimum of 20) will win a free table at the 2019 Nevada Suicide Prevention Conference ($500 value). You can promote your organization and services you may offer to suicide prevention professionals, advocates, researchers, and interested community members. If you have any questions or would like more information, please send us an email at nevadacsp@gmail.com.

Download the Registration Challenge Flyer

Register Here to Walk

CDC VITAL STATISTICS REPORT
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR NEVADA?

Suicide rates rose across the US from 1999 to 2016 in 49 states in the US.     Nevada was the only state that did not have a significant increase.

  • Nevada had no increase in suicide rates in since 1999, but are still ranked 7th in suicide death rates nation wide.
  • Nevada has done great work in keeping its rates from increasing, but work still needs to be done in order to save more lives.
  • Nevada will continue advocating for suicide prevention by building hope through healing. This movement will continue until everyone in the community understands the signs and symptoms in order to take action.

Thank you for all of your efforts in supporting such an important topic. Let’s keep the good work moving forward, every life is valued.

Sources
CDC 2018 Vital Signs Fact Sheet
CDC 2018 Suicide State Statistics

Want to become more involved with NCSP? 
You can become a volunteer and/or a member!
Please contact the following if interested:Outreach Committee: Looking for a co-chair & awareness event volunteers
Alice Vo Edwards alicevoedwards@gmail.comPR Committee: Looking for new chairperson
M. Amaris Knight maknight@nvsuicideprevention.orgGrants Committee:  Accepting people with previous grant writing or management experience
Jacqueline Ragin jragin@nvsuicideprevention.org

Advocacy Committee: -Under development
M. Amaris Knight maknight@nvsuicideprevention.org

We are the land of the free, we are the home of the brave. Let’s pay tribute to our brave American Heroes on this special day and forever. 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM NCSP!

Copyright © 2018 Nevada Coalition for Suicide Prevention, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:  Nevada Coalition for Suicide Prevention  205 N Stephanie St Ste D # 149, Henderson, NV 89074-8116

 

5 Takeaways on America’s Increasing Suicide Rate

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/us/suicide-rates-increasing-bourdain.html

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Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, who died this past week. Escalating suicide rates have affected nearly every demographic group and place, according to new federal data.CreditLeft: Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press; Right: Chris Pizzello/Invision, via Associated Press

By Mitch Smith

In a week when two celebrities, first the designer Kate Spade and then the chef and television host Anthony Bourdain, took their own lives, new federal data was released showing that suicide rates have been increasing for years in almost every state and across demographic lines.

 

The escalating crisis has affected nearly every group and place, but the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that some parts of the country have been hit especially hard. Here’s a closer look at the study and the stories behind some of the data.

Veteran deaths help account for Montana’s high rate.

Montana has the country’s highest suicide rate, and suicides by military veterans are a significant contributor. A state study found that veterans account for more than 20 percent of Montana’s suicides and that veterans have a suicide rate more than twice that of nonveterans.

“All the issues that we have in Montana are magnified in our veteran population,” said Karl Rosston, the state’s suicide prevention coordinator. Mr. Rosston said rural isolation, easy access to guns and a lack of mental health services likely contributed to Montana’s suicide rate, which has been among the country’s highest for decades.

States with the lowest suicide rates have stricter gun laws.

Guns are used in nearly half of all suicides, and ready access to weaponsis one of several risk factors. New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland and Connecticut have the country’s lowest suicide rates. Those states are Democratic-leaning in their politics, clustered in the Northeast and have some of the country’s strictest gun control laws, though researchers say many other factors could account for their low rates.

The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which assigns letter grades to each state based on their strictness, grades each of those five states at a B+ level or higher. Texas and Nebraska, which have slightly higher suicide rates, have comparatively loose gun laws.

White people and men are dying by the thousands.

Suicide rates have increased across gender and geographic lines, but nearly 84 percent of people who kill themselves are white, and about 77 percent are men.

“There are mental health components, but also there’s relationships, employment, a lack of connectedness that we might see in males that increases the risk for suicide,” said Misty Vaughan Allen, Nevada’s state suicide prevention coordinator.

Some point to gun seizure laws as a solution.

Gun control advocates have called for more states to pass laws that allow police officers to seize guns from people they deem dangerous. In Indiana, where such a law has been on the books since 2005, a recent study linked the measure to a 7.5 percent drop from the expected rate of firearm suicides.

“We think that it has thwarted at least several suicides,” said the county sheriff, John Boyd, a Republican. “We’ve at least given them a time period to at least better think about their options and get them the help they need.”

Nevada is a hopeful outlier.

Forty-nine states saw their suicide rates increase over the course of the C.D.C. study, in many cases by double-digit percentages.

Nevada was the lone exception, with a slight reduction in its rate. State officials attributed the improvement to years of work with community groups and in isolated towns where people are at a higher risk of suicide. But the state’s suicide rate remains among the country’s 10 highest.

“We’re still concerned about Nevada,” said Deborah Stone, the author of the C.D.C. study.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can find a list of additional resources at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources. Here’s what you can do when a loved one is severely depressed.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Rising Rate Of Suicide In America: A Snapshot. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

WHY ARE SUICIDE RATES RISING EVERYWHERE IN U.S. EXCEPT NEVADA?

http://www.newsweek.com/suicide-suicide-rate-nevada-nevada-department-health-and-human-services-967577

WHY ARE SUICIDE RATES RISING EVERYWHERE IN U.S. EXCEPT NEVADA?

BY  

Suicide rates in nearly every state in the U.S. have spiked by 30 percent since 1999, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The one state that didn’t see a spike? Nevada, where according to the CDC, the rate actually decreased—if only by less than 1 percent.

The latest report, released Thursday, found that 45,000 people died by suicide in 2018. States like Idaho, Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota have had the greatest increases: 38 to 58 percent.

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the country, according to the report. The release of the CDC report comes after the two high-profile deaths: fashion designer Kate Spade and star chef Anthony Bourdain. Spade was found dead in her New York apartment of an apparent suicide on Tuesday. Bourdain’s death was also confirmed to be a suicide after his friend and fellow celebrity chef Eric Ripert found him unresponsive in his hotel room in France.

Misty Vaughan Allen, a suicide-prevention coordinator at the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), told Newsweek that the department’s work with the Nevada Coalition for Suicide Prevention has helped lower the rate of suicide in the state.

117590063Haley Lillibridge, 25, answers the phone at CrisisLink, a suicide and crisis prevention hotline in Arlington, Virginia, on June 23, 2011. The suicide rate in Nevada has remained steady, according to a new Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.DAN ZAK/THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES

Allen, who has been at the department since 1998, said the state had the highest suicide rate in the nation when she started her work.

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She told Newsweek that keeping the conversation going about suicide prevention in communities and having a close relationship with other suicide-prevention centers is helping further their work.

“We have always felt suicide prevention is everyone’s business,” Allen said.

According to the Nevada DHHS statistics, 57 percent of suicides are carried out with a firearm. Suicides by firearms have decreased in the state, from 54 percent in 2014 to 51 percent in 2016.

Despite the steadiness of the suicide rate in the state, Allen says there is a lot of work to do. The state’s senior rate of suicide is still nearly double that of the rest of the United States according to a 2018 report by the United Health Foundation.

“We are highly aware we still have high rates, but we will never give up. We have to change culture around mental health, giving help and support,” said Allen. “The more we can do that, the safer our families and communities will be.”

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours a day, every day.