Like a lot of Generation X, I became aware of mental health when people I cared about died by suicide. It just wasn’t something we talked about back then. These losses showed me how prevalent, difficult to detect, and common the issue of suicide is and these losses compelled me to a career helping others.
In September, we commit ourselves to Suicide Awareness and Prevention and this year I want to talk about preventing suicide among men.
Men are almost four times more likely to die by suicide than women which correlates with the fact that most firearms are owned by men. Firearms account for over half of all suicide deaths. Folks who live in rural settings and veterans of the armed forces are also at an increased risk of death by suicide.
For those familiar with Weld County, you know we feel the weight of what is portrayed in these statistics. Folks working in agriculture face an immense amount of stress from the narrow margins of meat, produce, textile, production, etc., to the aging and shrinking population of families willing to do the work, to rural isolation – these folks feel it. The Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment’s 2022 Weld Community Health Survey occurs every three years and describes community members’ health needs and behaviors. These data showed 6 out of 10 Weld residents sought mental healthcare or counseling including almost 70 percent of male residents who reported they had mental health needs.
North Range Behavioral Health is proud to support all residents of Weld County including in-person and online, individual, family, couples, and group therapy, crisis support, inpatient, and residential care. We support people about-to-be-born to the very old. We have a robust network of outpatient services designed to meet the needs of all Weld County residents, regardless of their capacity to pay. We’ll do our best to get you squared away!
This article could be about several topics from the stigma around men’s mental health to the risk factors of suicide, or myths about suicide but these have all been done before and are still worth a read. This month I want to strike an optimistic tone because, in almost 20 years of working in this field, I have seen countless success stories of family members, coworkers, and friends helping a guy who needed support. I’ve seen:
- Cowboys, farmers, and ranchers talking about mental health and I’ve seen migrant families handle the issue of suicidal thinking with grace.
- Gun shops started offering customers gun locks with suicide prevention material printed on them to remind people that counseling works and recovery is possible.
- Crisis counseling offices and behavioral health hospitals save countless lives.
- Thousands of people from all kinds of professions and backgrounds complete Mental Health First Aid training - which empowers nonprofessionals to identify the signs of suicide risk and intervene in helpful ways.
- Organizations like my own offer free locks for firearms.
- A massive expansion for crisis support to those who need support for behavioral health crises such as the Colorado Crisis Services, which connects people with free and immediate confidential help all day, every day. You can also text TALK to 38255. If you’re nearby, feel free to walk in at 928 12th Street in Greeley. Anyone in America can also call 988 for free and anonymous nationwide support for suicide prevention.
There are so many reasons to be optimistic about the future of suicide prevention! Thank you for reading this far and for learning about the reasons I’m optimistic about reducing suicide amongst men.
Blog Contributor:
Bennett Edgerly, Ph.D., LPC-S
