Mental Health Officials say that the stress of the past year and the increased pressure on kids these days has made a negative impact.
According to the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation suicide is the leading cause of death for children age 10 to 14 and the 2nd leading cause of death for individuals 14 to 24 years of age. The Mental Health and Recovery Board of Allen, Auglaize, and Hardin Counties say that these deaths are preventable. Family and friends need to be checking in with their loved one and get help if they think something is wrong.
Tammie Colon, Executive Director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board adds, “Friends tell friends, right? Or they’ll see a note, or they’ll make a post and we really should not minimize any of that anymore. We need to get to an adult; we need to get to a safe person. Share the concern and if it’s for not then at least you know somebody cared enough about them to seek help for them.”
In Ohio, a youth dies by suicide every 33 hours, and nearly 5 people a day die from suicide. That is more than triple the homicide rate according to the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation.
