Sunday, September 18, 2011

Out of the Darkness: Suicide Prevention

One more and I'll leave you alone for awhile.  I promise.  (blee neder*)

April Jervis shares this email with me.  I thought I should pass it along:
(italics mine)

This week the Center for Disease Control and Prevention just released 2008 data for leading causes of death for the nation (http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/leading_causes_death.html).

For 2008 there were 36,035 suicides and a suicide rate of 11.8.
Suicide ranked 10th as a cause of death, while for many years previous it had ranked 11th.

Looking at age groups it is the 3rd leading cause of death for ages 10 to 24, the 2nd leading cause for ages 25-34, and the 4th leading cause for ages 35-54. These are shocking and upsetting numbers.

(In the eighties, the elderly had top billing. We thought, Well, they're in pain, they suffer with so much physical disability. But these numbers indicate mental illness, depression specifically, is on the rise.)

You can help stop this sad trend. If you haven’t already made plans to, please join us next week for the
Out of the Darkness Chicagoland Community Walk. 
As you know, this event raises funds and awareness for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). There is no registration fee or minimum fundraising requirement to participate. Registration and information can be found at http://afsp.donordrive.com/event/chicagoland

Please tell a friend, family members, neighbors, colleagues, & everyone else you know about this important event.


Thank you in advance for your support and participation.


Sincerely,

April R. Jervis, MBA, Illinois Area Director

You're welcome, April.

therapydoc

Out of the Darkness Chicagoland Community Walk

Saturday, September 24th Check in at 8 am | Walk at 9 am
Busse Woods Forest Preserve, Level 4, Elk Grove Village, IL

Please Register Online Now at

There is No Minimum Fundraising Requirement and No Registration Fee to Participate in this Event!

Walk Program:

+ Walk To Save Lives!
+ Walk to Raise Awareness!
+ Help reduce the stigma of depression, bipolar disorder, other mood disorders, and suicide.
+ Walk to Honor a Loved One!
+ Walk to Support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention!

Help Us Spread The Word:
Email This Invitation to Your Friends & Family and Post Our Fliers!

Thank You for Your Support & Participation!
blee neder* Hebrew, rhymes with Gee, get her, means, no promises.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would love to compare those stats with stats showing how cutting the mental health and community services hurts people in a real way as well as how isolated we have become and they dont have friends so they kill themselves-durkiem said the best way to prevent suicide is to connect people to each other, connect them to people meaning and purpose.

Marie Gronley said...

This is great, I just read today that in Flagstaff AZ the city has had budget cuts and as usual the mental health department was the first to get axed. Now that patient's can't get their medications, ER's are getting packed with suicide threats and all sorts of issues related to the mentally ill being neglected. It does my heart good to see activists for mental illness and increasing the awareness of how devastating these diseases are to the individuals, families and communities.

Liz said...

Thank you so much for posting this....such vital information

http://pocketshrink.blogspot.com

therapydoc said...

What I like is that this is grass roots, very much like the community mental health programs were supposed to be like. Awareness is the key. When people know to look for it, they can prevent it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for doing this work! Amen. Thought you would appreciate this strange blog post on the new era of talk therapy. Enjoy:) http://absurdistry.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/talk-therapy-for-sale-part-1/

Sober Blogger said...

Is worth promoting and de-stigmatizing as much as possible

Anonymous said...

Suicide prevention is crucial. Hard to believe so many millions of people on anti-depressants and no one wants to admit to being on them. Here is a guy that with the written word describes the pain he went through. www.amazon.com/dp/1469920530/ The author describes his attempt at suicide.

  Bring them home, the Homeland Concert There's not much to say. Wait, I take it back. There's SO much to say it is too much. There ...