Keep reaching out, even after Suicide Prevention Week has ended

  • Saturday, September 12, 2015 6:23pm
  • Opinion

The numbers are alarming — the suicide rate for Alaskans ages 15-24 was 46 per 100,000 people in 2010, well above the national average.

Today marks the end of Alaska’s Suicide Prevention Week, recently proclaimed by Gov. Bill Walker. Around the community, agencies and organizations took steps to mark the occasion, but with raising awareness of the issue comes the recognition that efforts to prevent suicide need to be made year-round.

It’s a sentiment shared by Laura Beeson and Leslie Fazio, counselors at Kenai Central High School who this week had students put together a “Wall of Hope,” filled with notes containing positive messages.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

“I think we should do it every year, because if we’re going to have any kind of impact on this suicide rate, we need to start talking about it and engaging in prevention activities,” Fazio told the Clarion.

State data shows that Alaska’s suicide rate is nearly twice that of the national average and the leading cause of death in Alaska for people between the ages of 15 and 24. We’re willing to bet that means you know someone whose life has been altered by the sudden loss of a loved one — yet it’s a topic we as a community are reluctant to talk about, one many of us would rather avoid.

Jeff Parker, an emergency services clinician for Peninsula Community Health Services of Alaska, told the Clarion the best thing concerned family members and friends can do to contribute to the solution is to simply stick by the person they are worried about. Taking hints or assertions of suicidal thoughts seriously is key, he said.

“The interesting thing is that if there’s sort of a perfect storm of factors that kind of come together, they are going to attempt, oftentimes because they are at their wits’ end and they don’t know how else to solve the physical and emotional pain that they’re in,” Parker said. “When it comes to suicide and the outcome of a permanent death, you can never be overprotective.”

We agree with Parker, and hope that the outreach continues, at both the community and individual levels, long after this week has ended.

More in Opinion

Snow collects near the entrance to the Kenai Community Library on Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Libraries defend every American’s freedom to read

Authors Against Book Bans invites you to celebrate National Library Week.

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks during a town hall meeting hosted by three Kenai Peninsula legislators in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Preparing for wildfire season

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

Alaska State House District 7 Rep. Justin Ruffridge participates in the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL 91.9 FM candidate forum at the Soldotna Public Library on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Putting patients first

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks at a town hall meeting in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, March 1, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Building better lives for Alaskans

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman reports back from Juneau.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy compares Alaska to Mississippi data on poverty, per-pupil education spending, and the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress fourth grade reading scores during a press conference on Jan. 31, 2025. Alaska is highlighted in yellow, while Mississippi is in red. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Opinion: Freeing states from the ‘stranglehold’ of the U.S. Department of Education

The USDOE has also been captured by a political ideology that has been harmful to education in America.

Alaska State House District 7 candidate Rep. Justin Ruffridge participates in the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL 91.9 FM candidate forum at the Soldotna Public Library on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Building a culture of reading

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

Homer Port Director Bryan Hawkins. (Photo provided)
Opinion: The importance of the Homer Harbor expansion

Alaska’s marine trades and service businesses must be on a competitive playing field with other ports and harbors.