On Wednesday, February 28th community members from all over Delta County gathered to discuss solutions to the ever-growing issue of suicide within the community. It is common to respond with anger, numbness, or go into a frenzy after incidences like this occur. To kick off the meeting Sheriff Fred McKee encouraged the group to put aside their anger, acknowledge that there is a problem, and take responsibility while seeking positive practical solutions to the problem at hand.
The forum was put together by the safety, education, and wellness coalition and was formed after the county and the school district experienced the second tragic teenage suicide in a month. Members of the coalition include the Delta County…show more content… The purpose of this meeting was to establish an operational plan for the school district to provide services for the students and faculty. The response of the community and providers was immediate and effective,” sheriff McKee continued, “…our next meeting was held so that we could put together this forum and truly have a community conversation concerning the issue of suicide and provide hope, help, and strength for our community.”
Sheriff McKee stated that from January 1st, 2017 to today (February 28th, 2018) the Delta County Law Enforcement Agencies have responded to 120 mental health suicide calls for service. With the assistance of mental health professionals, the police department has been able to intervene and prevent the death of most of those cases. Therefore, we have seen success in suicide prevention but not enough.
Ed Hagins, the chief operations officer from the center for mental health, came forward as an individual who has lived with the experience of mental illness and as a survivor of his own battle with suicidal thoughts and attempts as well as knowing the loss of family members who have taken their own life. He is a licensed professional counselor in the state of Colorado. With his past experiences as a guide for the situation at hand gave some advice to the…show more content… In Magtutu’s 11 years as a school counselor, she’s experienced 5 student suicides and said that not a single one gets easier. As she spoke she told the community members that when they first meet to discuss the issue they looked again at the old solutions. The old ways of trying to solve the issue were by looking at the statistics, the research, the facts and train people on how to be mental health experts, but that hasn’t worked so now what the forum members want to do is something different. Instead of just trying to help individuals after they show signs of mental distress they want to look to help all of the individuals so that they don’t become distressed in the first place. This is an upstream
