Layna Transue, Freshman
For most high school students, suicide is a dark topic brought up once or twice during a health class; for 1.4 million Americans every year, it's an idealized subject.
Bringing awareness to suicide is most notably done during September. In 1975, the first campaigns for suicide awareness ran from the 7th to the 13th. These week-long campaigns became month-long, assigning September as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. All across the United States, mental health screenings, campaigns with health professionals, and resources to help spread awareness of suicide prevention gain promotion during this month.
In previous years, the organization Each Mind Matters: California's Mental Health Movement created themes for NSPW (National Suicide Prevention Month). The theme, or activation kit, was made to encourage communities to be aware of different topics relating to suicide and prevention. The website gave multiple options on how to bring awareness to suicide prevention by offering digital banners, daily emails, and posters. They instructed what language to use when writing social media posts or articles that wouldn’t offend people and recommended going to local coffee shops and restaurants to spread awareness with coasters and coffee sleeves. In-person events were scheduled during NSPW throughout September.
Each Mind Matters encourages this year's theme to be centered around "the intersection between suicide prevention, alcohol and drug use, and efforts that foster resilience and recovery". The organization provides newsletters, posters, zoom backgrounds, and tips on how to reach out to others. Due to COVID-19, they had one in-person event scheduled, a drive-thru, and did not encourage people to visit coffee shops or restaurants.
The importance of Each Mind Matters along with other organizations and suicide prevention explains itself in the statistics. With countries that have created National Suicide Prevention Programs that met the criteria of BMC Psychiatry, the national suicide attempts dropped significantly since the programs were made. The trends have, overall, continued to decline throughout the years despite there being small increases. The control countries, those who did not meet the criteria, did not experience any declining trends during the same period as the countries that did have suicide prevention programs.
Suicide prevention is not just a week-long or month-long affair. Every day, people suffer from different factors that could lead to suicide. Following the tips given by health professionals and mental health organizations could potentially save the life of someone struggling with suicidal thoughts.
Works Cited
Lewitzka, U., et al. “Are National Suicide Prevention Programs Effective? A Comparison of 4 Verum and 4 Control Countries over 30 Years.” BMC Psychiatry, vol. 19, no. 1, 2019, doi:10.1186/s12888-019-2147-y.
“Our Initiatives:” Each Mind Matters - California's Mental Health Movement, www.eachmindmatters.org/.
“Statement On National Suicide Prevention Week, May 18-24, 1975.” Journal of School Health, vol. 45, no. 2, 1975, pp. 75–75., doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.1975.tb07664.x.
“Suicide Statistics.” American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 29 July 2020, afsp.org/suicide-statistics/.
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