By Richard Dyer
Twitter: @RHDyer

Schoolchildren in Apache Junction and Queen Creek carry cards with more than their identification. On the back is lifesaving suicide-prevention information.

“You are not alone! Help is available. Reach out,” it states on the Apache Junction card, with the national suicide crisis/prevention helpline, 800-273-8255; crisis text line, 741741; and Teen Lifeline (AZ), 800-248-8336.

All Queen Creek high school and middle school students have the Teen Lifeline phone number on the back of their student ID or in their binders.

“They like and agree with this information. They feel it is a great resource that they can easily hide but while still being of extreme value to them,” Apache Junction resident Braden Biggs said of students he has spoken with.

Mr. Biggs was instrumental in getting the information on the ID cards in the Apache Junction Unified School District. While working with young people in the Pinal County Youth Empowerment Partnership, he discovered middle- and high school-aged students knew resources were available, but they did not know how to access them.

He also worked with school superintendents throughout Pinal County to encourage them to add the information to the back of the ID cards, he said.

He recently expanded his suicide-prevention efforts by asking city, town and county government boards to issue a proclamation declaring September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

Mr. Biggs, formerly with the United Way of Pinal County, is the director of communications and program development at Empowerment Systems Inc. in Apache Junction.

“This is not affiliated with my work at Empowerment Systems or United Way. This is a personal Braden thing,” he said.

Suicide prevention is dear to Mr. Biggs. His brother, Nathan, 23, of Mesa, killed himself in 2012.

“The unanswered questions, unresolved feelings and sense of loss never goes away. No parent, sibling, family member or friend should have to feel what my family has felt,” Mr. Biggs said in a guest commentary.

Suicide prevention

Suicide is among the leading causes of death for adults under age 45 in the U.S., and it exacts a huge emotional and economic toll on those left behind, according to the website for the Office of the Surgeon General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2017:

• Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death overall in the U.S., claiming the lives of more than 47,000 people.
• Suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34, and the fourth leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 35 and 54.
• There were more than twice as many suicides (47,173) in the U.S. as there were homicides (19,510).

If you know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or use the crisis text line --- text HELLO to 741741. Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline via TTY at 1-800-799-4889. All calls are confidential. Contact social media outlets directly if you are concerned about a friend’s social media updates or dial 911 in an emergency, according to the National Institute of Mental Health Information Resource Center website.

To help someone else who is struggling emotionally or with thoughts of low self-worth, start with listening, Mr. Biggs said.

Queen Creek schools

Queen Creek Unified School District administrators and staff work with community mental-health providers at La Frontera Empact and Terros Inc., Stephanie Ingersoll, coordinator of public relations at QCUSD, said.

La Frontera Empact Suicide Prevention Center offers suicide prevention programs --- such as Signs of Suicide and safeTALK --- and provides services to those who have lost a loved one to suicide, according to its website. Terros supports adults, children and families experiencing a mental health-emergency, according to its website.

“District administration has put in place an official board policy for mental-health awareness and education for QCUSD students,” she said. “The district now has two social workers on staff who split their time between our middle schools and high schools. All our schools have a counselor on staff.”

Professional development is held for QCUSD high- school and middle-school counselors on dealing with suicide. QCUSD officials work with community partners to conduct prevention-program presentations to inform students about what they can do when someone may be at risk, she said.

“When we do identify students that are at risk, we immediately work with them and their families to connect the student to appropriate levels of care,” Ms. Ingersoll said.

“QCUSD continually works to strengthen partnerships with surrounding districts and outside agencies on crisis-team support when needed. Community partners include law enforcement, business leaders, and of course the town,” she said.

Proclamations

Mr. Biggs worked with Pinal County School Superintendent Jill Broussard on getting suicide-prevention month proclamations signed.

“September is Suicide Prevention Month and with that, we set out on an ambitious goal to have every community in Pinal County issue a proclamation declaring September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. I have headed up the municipalities and Jill has worked with the school districts,” he said.

“I am happy to say that Apache Junction, Superior, Florence, Coolidge, Casa Grande and Maricopa have all issued proclamations. As has the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. This morning, State School Superintendent Kathy Hoffman and the State Board of Education also issued their proclamation,” he said Sept. 23.

The Apache Junction proclamation states, in part, “no single suicide prevention effort will be sufficient or appropriate for all populations or communities; all are asked to join together and take a stand to help those who are contemplating suicide” and “Sept. 1-30 is recognized across the U.S. as Suicide Prevention Month and provides the opportunity to educate oneself about warning signs and how best to help those most in need.”

Next is to bring suicide-prevention efforts to the state level, Mr. Biggs said.

“Broussard serves as the Arizona State School Board Association Board president. This group is made up of all 15 county school superintendents. We have been working to create policy language to present to the 15 county school superintendents for their approval,” he said.

“With this approval, the association will be able to assign/hire a lobbyist to help find legislators both on the Arizona House of Representatives and Arizona Senate side to draft legislation requiring all middle-school and high-school student IDs have the suicide prevention information on the back of them. This falls in line with the governor’s recent signing of the Mitch Warnock Act,” he said.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in May signed SB 1468, also known as the Mitch Warnock Act, expanding suicide awareness and prevention training in public schools to support Arizona’s adolescents and teens, according to the Governors Office website.

To help prevent further deaths by suicide, the Mitch Warnock Act requires all school employees who work with students in grades six through 12 to receive training on suicide prevention at least once every three years, according to a release.

Training would include information on suicide prevention and how to identify the warning signs of suicidal behavior in adolescents and teens. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System will also be required to make suicide awareness and prevention training available and post the information on its website, the release states.

The bill was named for Mitch Warnock, a student from Corona Del Sol High School who died by suicide at age 18.