Did You Know?
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24.
Sextortion has become an ever-growing concern & has been identified as a direct cause of over 30 deaths by suicide in teen males.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provides a free service called “Take It Down”, which helps minor victims, or adults victimized as minors, remove & stop online sharing of nude, or sexually explicit content taken while under 18 years old.
For more information, click here: Take It Down
Words Matter: The Language we use can help reduce the stigma of suicide.
What To Say vs What Not to Say
Died by suicide instead of Committed suicide
Suicide attempt instead of Failed or successful attempt
Disclosed thoughts of suicide instead of Threatened suicide
Died as the result of self-inflicted injury instead of Took their own life
The Truth About “That doesn’t happen here.”
Suicide in Rural Communities
In the past two decades, suicide rates have been consistently higher in rural America than in urban America, and rural residents continue to be at a higher risk for suicide than urban residents.
Suicide rates almost doubled between 2000-2020 in rural areas.
Rural residents also have 1.5x higher rate of emergency department visits for nonfatal self-harm than urban residents.
If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Call 988 for immediate connection to a trained crisis counselor and resources.
Coalition Initiatives
Yellow Ribbon Campaign – an awareness campaign held every September (Suicide Prevention and Awareness month) throughout the four counties. All area schools are offered a kit created by the coalition that contains yellow ribbon and sidewalk chalk. The schools are encouraged to use the materials to create suicide awareness messages around their school.
Hope Walks- Every year the Coalition chooses a theme to raise awareness for suicide within the four county community. the theme is easily identified by attending the One Step at a Time 5k run/walk in Defiance, or by visiting the display in the Grange Building at the Fulton County Fair.
