Suicide Prevention Week Promotes Mental Health Dialogue

With the recent deaths of beloved actor Robin Williams and singer Simone Battle, suicide is a topic currently media attention due to its effect on millions of people each year. In the U.S. alone, 38, 364 people committed suicide in 2010 making it the tenth leading cause of death in states, according to the American Association of Suicidology.

The AAS reports that “one in 10 U.S. students have made a suicide plan.” Suicide risk factors may include academic pressures, social pressures, isolation, introduction to a new environment, lacking the ability to cope and experimenting with drugs and alcohol.

The leading cause for suicide is untreated depression, according to the AAS. The National Alliance on Mental Illness lists decrease in energy, sleep disruptions, thoughts of death and suicide, loss of interest in activities once found enjoyable and feeling worthless as some of the symptoms and signals for those struggling with depression. 

“The two top reasons that students come to a college-counseling center are anxiety and depression,” said Rose Signorello, Executive Director of Counseling and Disability Services on campus. “Usually people who commit suicide are depressed, so we do what we can to raise awareness and let students on campus know that there is help and there is support.”

National Suicide Prevention Week is an annual event run by the AAS that aims to raise awareness and prevent suicide. In effort to promote these endeavors, the Counseling and Disability Services on campus hosted events last Thursday in the academic mall.

“Usually suicidal people feel like they are not other options out there, so if someone can see that things can change, that there is hope and there is a future, it can help people to take a different course of action,” Signorello said.        

Signorello, along with other staff members in the Counseling and Disability Services, set up a booth to give students information and resources about suicide awareness and prevention. Additionally, there was a visually display of 105 empty chairs representing the number of people who commit suicide each day set up along the academic mall.

“If our display helps just one person, then we have been really successful,” Signorello said.

The theme of this year’s display was “One World Connected,” after the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s theme for World Suicide Prevention Day, which took place on Sept. 10.

“Our world is a global community, we are all interconnected and we all can support and help one another in terms of making good things happen whether it is peace or personal peace in our community,” Signorello said.

NAMI advises those with symptoms of depression to seek treatment by talking with a health professional. If someone is considering suicide or death, they should seek help immediately and speak with a trusted person. For people wishing to remain anonymous they can call a suicide hotline for help. Students are also welcome to go to the Counseling and Disability Services office in the second floor of Crooker if they want someone to talk to.

“There are options out there, there are people who care and there are lots of resources that offers help and support,” Signorello said.