Suicide Prevention

I'm reminded by an unfortunately close to home incident of the importance of suicide prevention.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for 25-34 year old and the second leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds. Males are more likely to commit suicide and account for the majority of suicide related deaths, however women attempt suicide more often. Approximately 89 suicides occur in the US each day. Facts compiled from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/suicide/SuicideDataSheet.pdf

Parents, you know your child better than any resident director, better than any resident advisor. If your child is exhibiting behaviors that are not normal for them, please address it with them. Please do not put your head in the sand. Similarily, if they have attempted suicide or if they have a mental illness or suffered a lose, those are things that would help the resident director and advisors to know. You can tell those things to them confidentially, but please do not keep that information hidden.

If you are considering suicide, please get help. No matter how unloved you feel, no matter how hopeless it seems, no matter what, your death will impact people in the way you could never imagine. Someone will blame themselves, someone will question whether they could have done something, people will be sad and will miss you terribly. No matter how bad it is, please don't be a statistic. Please don't break the hearts of those that love you. Please get help. If you feel that you cannot talk about this to anyone in person, please call: 1-800-SUICIDE.

Suicide does happen on college campuses. It happens on small and large campuses. At Christian and state schools. In the residence halls, at homes, at apartments. It does not discriminate. It could be your brother or sister, your room mate, the guy down the hall, your best bud. Please, if you suspect something odd or wrong, tell someone.

If someone close to you committed suicide, you have my utmost sympathy. You cannot control a person's choices. You cannot blame yourself. Please use your story to help others.

Peace.