MVCEAB brings suicide prevention training to community

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

A small group of about 15 Moapa Valley residents met at the Overton Community Center on Tuesday, April 13 to receive Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention. The training was instructed by Richard Egan, state training coordinator for the Nevada Office of Suicide Prevention.

The session was sponsored by the Moapa Valley Community Education Advisory Board (MVCEAB). This body of local education advocates had expressed concern about the mental and emotional health of Moapa Valley students during the past year of COVID.

“The kids have lost so much that they usually look forward to; including school, sports, extracurricular activities, time with friends and more,” said MVCEAB Chairwoman Wendy Mulcock. “Many of them are in mourning because of this loss.”

MVCEAB arranged to have Egan present this training in the community to help identify the problem in local youth. In attendance were educators, school counselors, local clergy members, parents, and anyone else in the community who work with youth.

Moapa Valley High School JAG instructor Ryan Anderson had been the one to ask Egan to come give the local training. Before his recent retirement, Anderson had interacted with Egan in his prior role as a Metropolitan Police officer. Now as a CCSD teacher, Anderson was concerned about youth he works with each day.

“The statistics in CCSD are pretty astronomical right now,” Anderson said in an introductory statement before last week’s training. “We are up to 24 suicides so far this school year, district-wide.”

Anderson said that the training was especially timely. The weeks between spring break and the end of the school year are often emotionally difficult for high school seniors.

“They are facing graduation, turning 18, becoming adults and maybe don’t quite know what they want to do after high school,” Anderson said. “This is a time when a lot of them get depressed and can even have suicidal ideations.”

During the training, Egan shared some additional alarming statistics. He pointed out that Nevada has traditionally been a hotspot of suicides. In 2019, Nevada had the 7th highest suicide rate in the nation with 642 people taking their own life. That compared with 166 homicides and 327 deadly motor vehicle accidents that year.

Egan added that in 2019, suicide was the 2nd highest cause of death for the age group between 20 and 49. In addition, it was the first highest cause for youth ages 12-19, he said.

Interestingly, suicide rates overall went down slightly in the state during 2020, Egan added. But it actually increased dramatically last year for certain age groups. For kids age 17 and under, suicide rates increased by 69 percent, Egan said. And for the segment of population between age 18 and 24 it jumped 24 percent.

Egan attributed some of that to the isolation that young people may have felt when they could no longer go to school or college as they normally would.

“Connectiveness matters!” Egan told the group. “In a 2011 report, being connected to others was found as the #1 sign of resiliency for people.”

Egan explained that the term ‘Connectiveness’ is a recently coined term used in suicide prevention circles. It refers to the quality and quantity of a person’s connections to others, either personally or online, he said.

Egan also emphasized that those who struggle with thoughts of suicide can’t be jammed into just one category. Each situation is unique. So there can’t be just one approach to helping them, he said.

“What does a person in crisis look like?” Egan queried. “They look just like everyone else. Each person is different. Each of us comes from different experiences. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. So how do you know if someone is struggling with thoughts of suicide? You have to ask.”

Even so, Egan explained that people contemplating suicide nearly always show signs that can be read by those who are watching.

“There is a natural self-preservation instinct,” Egan said. “People want to live. They don’t want to die. So consciously or unconsciously, they give clues of what is going on with them.”

Those clues can be easy to detect such as talking about dying, mentioning feeling empty and hopeless, expressing strong feelings of guilt or shame, talking about not having a reason to live, giving away personal items or bidding farewell to friends and family.

There are also more subtle signs such as social withdrawal, unusual changes in behavior, emotional distance and even exhibiting a sudden shift to feelings of elation or enthusiasm after a long period of depression.

Egan emphasized that these signs should never be ignored and responses to them should never be procrastinated.

“People who are thinking of suicide want to talk to someone about it,” Egan said. “They are feeling isolated and alone. It is important that they know they are not alone. If a person is talking about these things, it shouldn’t be dismissed as just seeking attention. All talk must be taken seriously.”

Egan gave three steps people can take to reach out and help a person struggling with these things.
First is to show that you care. “You should listen to them genuinely and make it obvious that you are interested in them,” Egan said.

The second step is to ask about suicide. “Don’t be afraid to breach this topic with people,” Egan said. “Be direct if you’re concerned about someone. Ask them openly but don’t be confrontational.”
The third step is to immediately connect them with professional help. “Don’t leave them alone and don’t let it wait until tomorrow,” Egan said. “Go with them to get some help.”

Egan said that there are numerous resources which could be used to get people help, even in outlying rural areas. Perhaps most accessible among these is the state’s mobile crisis line. This line has a separate phone number for rural areas of the state. That number is 702-486-7865.

“Suicide is a public health problem that we can definitely do something about,” Egan said. “But the state Office of Suicide Prevention can’t do it alone. That is why we are doing these trainings. Now you all are with us and you can be boots on the ground in helping to prevent suicide.”