New Hampshire has one of the highest suicide rates among 10-24 year olds in the country.
Yesterday, the governor signed into law a bill to help the state improve its ability to prevent people from taking their own lives.
Some advocates and state officials believe focusing on suicide will mean more money for substance abuse and mental health services.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein reports.
The new law makes the state’s Suicide Prevention Council permanent.
The Council’s task is to train everyone from Little League coaches to priests to identify the warning signs associated with suicide.
Symptoms like wild mood swings, extreme agitation, depression, and despondence.
It also helps get people mental health and substance abuse services.
In honor of the bill signing, State Representative Roger Wells wanted to put a face on the struggle.
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11:54 in 1969 I was a young veterinarian living in Oklahoma, with two children and a wife, Ann, who was suffering from depression.
Wells continued.
He says his wife believed she would never be normal again.
So she crossed state lines, checked into a motel, and overdosed on medication.
12:23 I refer to this as my first trip to my own personal hell.
He says back then, there wasn’t any help, no support groups, he couldn’t even find a book about suicide.
Fast forward 12 years, his daughter Jennifer became depressed.
Over the next four years, Wells estimates she made 25-30 attempts to kill herself.
The family moved to New Hampshire in the 80’s.
After the move, Wells says life was looking up.
14:18 then on October 13....Jennifer drove to Marlborough, MA. checked into a motel, took an overdose of medication, just like her mother did.
Jennifer was about 19 when she died.
Teenagers and young adults in New Hampshire kill themselves at higher rates than the national average.
Advocates say over the past 7-8 years those numbers have dropped thanks to increased attention from state and federal governments.
Despite the dip, the most recent state statistics show suicide is the second leading cause of death for 10-34 year olds, trailing only unintentional injury.
Mike Cohen of NAMI- the New Hampshire National Alliance of Mental Illness- says the number of people who kill themselves isn’t the key number.
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6:57 the actual numbers of people who die although that is tragic, the real issue is people who either attempt, or think about that, that’s the real piece...it’s the earlier intervention you want to make.
But Cohen says the two challenges to early intervention are a lack of sufficient services and the shame people feel when they contemplate suicide.
He says removing the disgrace around suicide may be the Council’s most important goal.
Cohen has noticed when people talk about suicide; they often say things like, ‘suicide is a choice.’
12:38...Suicide is not a choice. It’s generally preventable. If you look at the data, 90% of the people have a substance abuse or mental health problem. So what is driving the suicide is not choice, but illness. And that is what we have to keep in mind.
Many advocates and even state officials have criticized the state frequently for failing to provide enough money to fund services that prevent suicide.
State Senator Kathy Sgambati is one of those critics.
She sponsored the bill that has made the Suicide Prevention Council permanent.
The former Health and Human Services acting commissioner says she hopes the law will help target funds more effectively.
But she says improvements like consolidating services can be made without new money.
9:13 there may be a greater need on the mental health side for additional funds, but that is the second step after looking at our system and how effective the resources are being utilized right now.
At the same time, Sgambati doesn’t diminish the importance of services.
She heard Representative Wells tell his story.
Wells says, it wasn’t until he finally found a support group seven years after his daughter killed herself- that he didn’t spend a part of each day in his own personal hell.
For NHPR News, I’m DG.
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