Today is World Suicide Prevention Day.
Around the world, about every 40 seconds, someone takes their own life. That’s at least 800,000 people per year. Here, in the United States, the rate of suicides is up 35% from 1999 to 2018. The U.S. Centers for Disease control has identified suicide as a growing public health problem. It is the second leading cause of death in teens and young adults in the U.S.
As a psychotherapist, I have dealt with hundreds of suicidal individuals and have lost several people I knew to suicide including two popular high school students and a beloved nurse and mother. Losing one life to suicide is one too many.
On World Suicide Prevention Day, I didn’t want to just write another post about suicide. I want to encourage anyone who is having suicidal thoughts or knows someone struggling with suicidal thoughts, to seek help. Talk to a friend, a teacher, a pastor or a mental health professional.
If you feel like you don’t have anyone you can talk to or prefer to talk to someone anonymously, here are some other options:
If you live in the United States, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-873-8255 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you need help in Spanish, call 888-628-9454.
Trevor Lifeline offers suicide prevention counseling for the LGBTQ community: 866-488-7386.
You can also TEXT a crisis counselor in the U.S. or Canada at 741741, 85258 in the U.K and 50808 in Ireland
No matter how you reach out and seek help, the most important thing is that you do.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor 