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Suicide in the Mountains: Instead of suicide, a second chance at life

Lauren Glendenning
Colorado Mountain News Media

Recognize suicidal warning signs:

• Threatening to hurt or kill oneself, looking for means (such as firearms) to kill oneself, and talking or writing about death or suicide.

• Increased substance (alcohol or drug) use

• No reason for living; no sense of purpose in life

• Anxiety, agitation, unable to sleep or sleeping all the time

• Feeling trapped - like there’s no way out

• Hopelessness

• Withdrawal from friends, family and society

• Rage, uncontrolled anger, seeking revenge

• Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities, seemingly without thinking

• Dramatic mood changes.

If observed, seek help as soon as possible by contacting a mental health professional or calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for a referral.

Source: American Association of Suicidology, http://www.suicidology.org

Editor’s note: This is the final part in a four-part series looking at suicide, drug and alcohol addiction, and mental-health resources in the mountains.

Vail resident Molly Fiore remembers feeling like nobody would understand her depression. She didn’t think she could talk to anyone about it and said she never felt that asking for help was an option.



“I think it just goes to show how stuck I was,” she said. “It was such tunnel vision — I could only see this little tiny world I had created.”

It’s common for those outside such a world not to know how to help. Whether it’s the bystander effect, a term Michelle Muething at the Aspen Hope Center uses when describing those who assume a person in need of help is already getting it, or simply a lack of training and education, those experiencing depression often feel as though they have to work through it alone.




That couldn’t be farther from the truth, which is why suicide-prevention efforts at the state and local level are focusing on training and education. The Colorado Legislature passed a bill on the last day of the session this year that paves the way for a statewide commission on suicide prevention. The state’s Office of Suicide Prevention will oversee the commission, which is designed to expand public-private partnerships and identify statewide priorities, said Jarrod Hindman, manager of the Office of Suicide Prevention.

The commission is expected to have a mix of public and private representatives, suicide-prevention experts, mental-health experts and others, he said. The commission will work to find funding, among other challenges, for suicide-prevention efforts in Colorado.

“Not enough people realize the real public-health impact suicide has,” Hindman said. “People generally think it’s a personal, private matter. … This is a disease almost every single time, just like people who die of cancer. People who die by suicide don’t want to be dead they’re just in so much pain that they want it to end.”

a second chance

The topic of suicide prevention is gaining traction in Summit County, where there isn’t a formalized suicide-prevention group. But Healthy Futures Initiative Coordinator Jordan Schultz said the nonprofit is planning some community education to begin in the fall.

Speak Up Reach Out, in Eagle County, does a one-hour program in schools called Signs of Suicide. It shows children and teenagers different scenarios of depression and also addresses the difference between depression and suicide, said Speak Up Executive Director Erin Cochrane-Ivie. The nonprofit also is trying to host more frequent so-called Question, Persuade and Refer training for businesses and school counselors in Eagle County.

In the Roaring Fork Valley, the Aspen Hope Center has been hosting a slew of suicide-prevention classes this year as well as public forums about mental health. The Hope Center also teaches Question, Persuade and Refer training as well as psychiatric emergency training, conflict avoidance and behavioral de-escalation. The Hope Center provides training for businesses and does a program every September in the high schools throughout the valley for Suicide Prevention Month. There are also Hope Center clinicians based at Basalt High School and Roaring Fork High School.

“We’ve done suicide-prevention trainings since 2010 and have trained over 3,000 people in the community,” Muething said.

Speak Up Reach Out also is trying to host more frequent Question, Persuade and Refer training for Eagle County businesses and school counselors.

Mind Springs Health hosts occasional so-called Mental Health First Aid training throughout the region, an eight-hour course that teaches how to help someone facing a mental-health crisis.

Even with trainings and discussions, there’s a recognition that it never seems to be enough.

“There’s no formal system to get treatment in place,” said Jill Squyres, an Eagle-based clinical psychologist who is also a Speak Up Reach Out board member. “I’m one of five part-time clinical psychologists in a county with 50,000 people. This is a big county to have such limited mental-health resources.”

An emergency-room visit might address the immediate concern, but the hospital won’t hold a person who isn’t in need of physical health care. The only psychiatric hospital between Denver and Salt Lake City is West Springs Hospital in Grand Junction, and beds there are scarce.

There are an average of 14 psychiatric beds for every 100,000 people in the United States. The Colorado average is 10 beds per 100,000, and the average for the Western Slope is just six beds, according to Mind Springs Health.

There is a stabilization bed in Summit County, but it’s a very short-term solution. Otherwise the only option throughout the region is to go through Mind Springs Health and try to get a bed arranged in Grand Junction.

And while the resources aren’t what they could be in the region, there are always resources for people in need.

“When you talk to people who are feeling suicidal or have been rescued from an attempt, the vast majority of them are so glad because those feelings are very temporary for most people,” Squyres said.

So what’s the best way to intervene? Just come right out and ask, Squyres said. Most people who are struggling will answer honestly.

“They’re so grateful they got a second chance at life,” she said. “When you intervene with someone, you’re giving them that chance. That’s why it’s worth going out of your comfort zone.”

Lauren Glendenning is the editorial projects manager for Colorado Mountain News Media. She can be reached at lglendenning@cmnm.org or 970-777-3125.