The Idaho Department of Education and Department of Health and Welfare are teaming up during the next two weeks to tackle the problem of teen suicide. The departments, along with the non-profit organization Suicide Prevention Action Network of Idaho (SPAN), will hold roundtable discussions open to school officials, law enforcement personnel, and other stakeholders in Boise, Twin Falls, Pocatello and Idaho Falls. Discussions in Lewiston and Coeur D'Alene have already occurred.
The events will focus on teen suicide prevention, intervention, and post-vention. Speakers at the conferences will address proper procedures on how to handle to crisis of a teen suicide, including managing the aftermath of suicide in a community. The events’ purpose is to give those in contact with teens the resources and knowledge to handle traumatic situations. "We know suicide is preventable and that individuals considering suicide don’t want to die,” said Melissa McGrath, spokesperson for the Department of Education. “They simply don’t have the resources and support to overcome the challenges they face.”
Here are the times and locations of remaining events:
Pocatello: Tuesday, April 27, 2010
1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Pocatello City Council Chamber, 911 N. 7th Ave., Pocatello
Idaho Falls: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
9:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.
EIRMC, Behavioral Health Center, Conference Room, 2280 East 25th Street, Idaho Falls
Caldwell: Friday, April 30, 2010
1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
College of Idaho, Simplot Dining Hall, Hendren Room, 2112 Cleveland Blvd., Caldwell
Boise: Thursday, May 6, 2010
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Boise LDS Institute, Room 205/206, 1929 University Drive, Boise
Twin Falls: Friday, May 7, 2010
1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Twin Falls County Courthouse, 3rd Floor, 425 Shoshone Street North, Twin Falls
According to the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 14 percent of all Idaho teens have seriously considered suicide, which is 1 percent below the national average. Thoughts of suicide are considerably higher among teenage girls than among boys. Approximately 23 percent of girls in 10th grade surveyed said they seriously considered suicide, compared with a rate of about 13 percent for boys the same age. However, men in Idaho were five times more likely to die of suicide than women, according to the Bureau of Vital Statistics data from 2005 to 2007. During that same time period, suicide was the second in the leading cause of death for Idahoans between the ages of 10 and 34.
