Op-ed: Suicide is a silent epidemic in Kentucky that's taking our children

The following op-ed appeared in the Courier Journal on March 21, 2019.

Although Kentucky is known for lives lost from accidental drug overdoses, a silent epidemic is also taking too many of our children — suicide.

In recent months, in fact, five lives under the age of 14 in Central Kentucky were lost to this epidemic. Indeed, we also know that suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young people, ages 15 to 24 — a trend that does not seem to be slowing down.

The fact is that stress runs deep and wide among our students — another trend that is starting earlier and earlier in life. Whether it is from struggling to matriculate through a rigorous program of study to facing social justice issues to managing peer pressures such as bullying to balancing extracurricular activities and family/professional lives, it is real.

Now more than ever, it is critical for communities to invest more resources to support student academic success and promote mental wellness. The earlier we reach out to our youth to educate and promote resilience and skills for healthy daily living, the closer we will get to reducing the needless number of youth suicides.

We believe stronger “town and gown” and “town and organization” partnerships can make a difference until legislation requires placing a nurse and/or health professional in every school as part of a comprehensive health and education system. We believe health profession colleges and organizations in Kentucky can individually and collectively look at innovative partnerships to address mental wellness for students.

We should all agree that students and families alike need to understand what resources are available, and schools and universities need to engage around the question of what else is needed.

We all have a role to play, not simply mental health professionals. That means teachers, faculty and students may need more access to training and more awareness around key issues of “what to say” or “what to do,” if they encounter someone threatening to take his or her own life?

Specifically, we believe common life distress and mental health suffering can be countered through preventive measures via programs and practices such as these:

Engage in suicide prevention training

Learning skills to recognize those with suicidal ideation and learning how to listen and guide youth to professional help.

Engage in mindful practices

Learning skills to pay attention to the present moment without judgment and in service of self-understanding and wisdom.

Engage with self-stewardship

Learning skills to know oneself and compassionately respond to individual/collective limits and choose healthy and wholesome behaviors.

We believe the work we do individually and collectively can promote resilience and practice in our stressful learning and working environments and will help prevent suicides. Ultimately, what we do to help our students AND OURSELVES manage stress and prioritize self-care will give us greater capacity to help those we serve professionally and personally.

While the Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition works closely with legislators to actively engage in driving policy to strengthen safety and resilience in our schools, what can we do as educators and community leaders?

Let’s start with a simple PAUSE to assess our individual roles at home and in our communities to address the challenges our students face today. It is up to us to let them know there is always HOPE for better days.

Janie Heath is the president of the Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition and the dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Kentucky. Delanor Manson is the executive director for Kentucky Nurses Association and the Kentucky Nurses Foundation in Louisville.