Governor Chris Sununu and suicide prevention advocates gathered in Concord Monday to recognize New Hampshire's Suicide Awareness Week.
Suicide is a growing challenge across the country, and New Hampshire's suicide rate has been rising faster than most, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control.
Speaking at the State House alongside mental health, business and law enforcement officials, Sununu emphasized a strategy of prevention.
"The state has been too much in a reactive mode,” he said. “We tend traditionally to wait for the crisis to happen, and then we'll see what we can do about it."
The state's suicide prevention plan calls for greater outreach to policy makers around the issue, as well as higher-risk communities like veterans and gun-owners.
Calls to the suicide prevention line in New Hampshire have increased nearly 40 percent in the past two years.
Mental health professionals urge people suffering from suicidal thoughts to seek help by contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is available 24 hours a day at (800) 273-8255.