The need for our services continues to grow as shown in a recent report on suicides for 2010 that was brought to my attention by a colleague recently.The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network announced the publication of their "State of Suicide in Tennessee 2010", a report on suicide trends and prevention efforts in Tennessee.The full report is available for free download on the TSPN website at www.tspn.org/sost.htm .
Along with a great deal of information, this report contains interesting statistics on mid-life suicides for those of you working with adults.Marital and Family Therapist, in my opinion, are in a unique position to be able to assess risk of suicide, connect with other services for the client at risk, help the family heal together, and available to facilitate families grieving the loss of a family member to suicide.
“This document is intended to provide state legislators, mental health professionals, and the general public with information on the problem of suicide in our state and what is being done to prevent it.Suicide trends over the past several years are discussed, including a 34.2% percent drop in the youth (ages 10-19) suicide rate but rising rates through adulthood and midlife. The current trends are also broken down by race and gender and by individual counties. Attention is also given to the nature of non-fatal versus fatal attempts and common suicide methods.”
“The document also includes a summary of common suicide risk factors and an account of TSPN's suicide prevention projects over the past five years. Special mention is given to last year's highly successful Suicide Prevention Awareness and Educational Events project, in which eleven different events across Tennessee demonstrated not only TSPN's statewide reach but also public support for the Network and its suicide prevention mission.The report concludes with a listing of suicide numbers and rates for all 95 Tennessee counties for the years 2003 to 2008.”
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.....It's about learning to dance in the rain.....author unknown