<\/p>\n
The recent suicides of two middle school students over the weekend have spurred conversation in Montezuma-Cortez schools and in the larger community about suicide prevention and youth mental health.<\/p>\n
The teenagers who died, 15-year-old Jeit Redrock Height and 14-year-old Andrew William Cuch Jr., were members of the Towaoc community and enrolled at Cortez Middle School.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week has been really tough,\u201d said Carrie Schneider, the seventh-grade counselor at CMS and the district\u2019s crisis counselor. \u201cIt\u2019s just hard to hear that we have this many students that we\u2019ve lost to suicide, or even attempting. It\u2019s been tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also in the past week, two high school students attempted to take their own lives, according to the school district. Both students were recovering in the hospital on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The suicides in Cortez are part of a larger trend across Colorado and the nation.<\/p>\n
Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents in Colorado, according to Andrew Romanoff, CEO and president of Mental Health Colorado. Nationally, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people between 10 and 24, after accidental injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuicide has proven to be a very stubborn. \u2026 The numbers don\u2019t seem to go down,\u201d Romanoff said.<\/p>\n
Last year in Montezuma County, 13 people, all age 18 or older, died by suicide, up from 11 in 2017, according to county Coroner George Deavers. In 2016, two young students died by suicide in the county.<\/p>\n
The reasons for a death by suicide are generally multilayered, said Jarrod Hindman, deputy chief of the violence and injury prevention and mental health promotion branch of the Colorado Department of Health.<\/p>\n
Some of the contributing factors to suicide risk can include depression, anxiety, substance abuse, poverty and historical trauma. A victim of ongoing sexual or physical violence is also at risk of suicide, he said.<\/p>\n
The deaths have shaken community, students and teachers alike. Schneider has been meeting with a stream of students since Tuesday, she said, and the middle school has seen a host of student absences.<\/p>\n
She expressed gratitude for teachers\u2019 strength, highlighting their ability to maintain structure in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m grateful that we have such a strong group of teachers,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cI know our teachers have been talking with students and checking in and listening to them in this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has encouraged students to meet with counselors during lunch, she said, just to hang out and know they have a trusted adult.<\/p>\n
In a letter to parents, Superintendent Lori Haukeness shared news on the recent suicides and suicide attempts and highlighted some of the specific actions going on right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of ALL our students,\u201d she said in her letter. \u201cWe want each and every one of our students to know that YOU matter, we care about YOU, and we are here to SUPPORT YOU no matter what you are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haukeness highlighted resources including the suicide prevention program Sources of Strength, school counselors, peer supports, and Safe-to-Tell, an anonymous reporting service.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, we are working to quickly identify students who may be most at risk and who may be considering suicide,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are working with the Ute Tribe and other community organizations to personally follow-up with these students to ensure they are safe and have the supports that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of these organizations is the Pi\u00f1on Project, a family services center on Main Street. The site has been engaged in a flurry of email exchanges with the school district this week, said Maggie Tevault, early childhood programs coordinator with the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of email traffic from the schools, that know that we have suicide prevention programs here,\u201d Tevault said. \u201cThere are several schools that are working to implement our Sources of Strength program, which is a suicide prevention and resiliency-building program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sources of Strength is a school-based suicide prevention program, in which young people are trained as peer leaders to focus on building strong connections within the school community. A lot of schools had basic implementation training, but full program implementation hadn\u2019t happened because of time constraints, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen unfortunately when things like this happen, it pops to the forefront of everyone\u2019s mind again,\u201d Tevault said. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s really important that we get these programs implemented, that we get the support. One of the biggest issues \u2013 it wasn\u2019t that staff didn\u2019t want to implement it, it wasn\u2019t that students didn\u2019t want to be involved, it was time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucia Bueno-Valdez is the facilitator for the Pi\u00f1on Project\u2019s Wraparound program. Through Wraparound, she and others go into the district\u2019s middle and high schools to support students who have been referred by counselors \u2013 students struggling academically, but also with mental health or family issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust building those positive relationships in and out of school,\u201d she said. They call the school-oriented branch of the program \u201cWraplite.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Wraplite\u2019s two family support partners \u2013 or student advocates \u2013 went in to the high school to speak to small groups of students.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of our Wraplite clients have been really affected by this week\u2019s events,\u201d Bueno-Valdez said. \u201cThey just went there to say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, too, the incidents demonstrated a need for young people and adults to connect with one another, to show each other that they are valued.<\/p>\n
Dante Downey is a Montezuma-Cortez High School student who serves as a youth advocate with the Pi\u00f1on Project. He has been pushing for stronger suicide prevention programming in schools, meeting with school administration and speaking up at last week\u2019s school board meeting.<\/p>\n
The idea of \u201csupport,\u201d he said, can be much more basic than what people generally think of. He recalled an email he received after this week\u2019s incidents, simply checking in to ask him if he was OK.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what support is, just letting someone know that you\u2019re important and valued, and I\u2019m glad that you\u2019re here, pretty much,\u201d Downey said. \u201cThat\u2019s the community support that I feel like we do need, is just everyone who\u2019s willing to step in and check in with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the very real problem of suicide needs to be confronted and discussed openly, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be the leaders and say it,\u201d Bueno-Valdez said. \u201cI think it takes a group of people to say, \u2018This is happening, in this community. Suicide is real, it\u2019s being completed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Adults need to be better about listening to young people\u2019s needs too, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis happens, and we all want to react, we want to react in that moment,\u201d Bueno-Valdez said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re still not getting down to their level, and asking them, and then really listening.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that there are no universal \u201cwarning signs,\u201d and emphasized that idea can place unfair and undue blame on friends and family.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaying there are signs to youth especially is really difficult, because then it comes back on, \u2018Well, then I didn\u2019t see it. And I didn\u2019t do anything when I did.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that that\u2019s fair,\u201d she said. \u201cEspecially for the youth.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the teen suicides in 2016, a task force formed in Montezuma County to respond and held suicide intervention trainings, said Henk Huetink, a counselor at The Recovery Center. Although one suicide summit drew about 90 people, he said, the group has been inactive recently.<\/p>\n
However, Huetink said he would like to see more educational events that would give residents the skills to respond to an individual in crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe adolescent suicides have certainly been making headlines. But it\u2019s across the board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also would like to see a group to allow suicide survivors to share their stories, with others who can relate.<\/p>\n
A death can open doors to building a coalition to address the problem and plan long-term steps, Hindman said.<\/p>\n
In the wake of a suicide, one of the most important actions is to talk about it, local counselors said.<\/p>\n
For adults parenting or working with teens, it\u2019s important to establish open communications right away, so that young people know they can approach adults in their lives later, said Judy Austin, executive director of The Grief Center of Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means answering the questions as truthfully as you can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also important to answer questions in a culturally and an age-appropriate way, she said.<\/p>\n
Montezuma County is one of six counties in Colorado selected to help create a model for suicide prevention that could be used nationwide. The goal of the Colorado-National Collaborative is to create a suicide-prevention model to reduce suicide 20 percent statewide by 2024.<\/p>\n
So far, the collaborative has received $200,000 to fund some preliminary work, including hiring a coordinator to work with all six counties, Hindman said. But the collaborative has had trouble securing enough funding to eliminate suicide prevention strategies in communities, he said.<\/p>\n
The new prevention work will focus on how to handle a suicide death, increasing economic stability of communities and increasing suicide prevention and awareness through trainings. The collaborative also wants to promote improving social connectedness through programs such as Sources of Strength, he said.<\/p>\n
The collaborative also plans to promote the Zero Suicide model in health care systems. Axis Health System has adopted the Zero Suicide model, which provides guidance about how to improve care by including suicide survivors in planning, training employees in effective therapeutic methods and using data to inform changes in health care.<\/p>\n
Mental Health Colorado is also backing several bills at the state legislature that would address the suicide by bolstering the number of mental health professionals in schools and train those in health care, education and law enforcement to see the early warning sides of suicide, Romanoff said.<\/p>\n
The group is also backing a bill that would better enforce laws that require insurance companies to provide sufficient coverage for the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s happening now it really shines the light on how we need capacity and funding for positions that can support suicide prevention,\u201d said Mary Dengler-Frey, regional health connector for the Southwestern Colorado Area Health Education Center.<\/p>\n
The Pi\u00f1on Project at 210 E. Main St. is seeking adult mentors for a waiting list of children who need mentorship, Bueno-Valdez and Trevault said. Ideally, adult mentors are able to commit to about 12 hours a month, or three hours a week. For more information, visit pinonproject.org or contact the Youth Programs Department at 564-3801.<\/p>\n
Ute Mountain Ute community leaders will host an open house Friday from 3-5 p.m. at the Towaoc Recreation Center, in order to share mental health and general resources with the community. All are welcome.<\/p>\n
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has identified these behaviors, a partial list, as warning signs of suicide:
\n Talking about suicide, feeling hopeless
\n Increased use of alcohol or drugs
\n Withdrawing from activities
\n Self-imposed isolation
\n Sleeping too much or too little
\n Visiting or calling people to say goodbye
\n Giving away prized possessions
\n Depression
\n Anxiety
\n Loss of interest
\n Irritability
\n Humiliation\/Shame
\n Agitation\/Anger
\n Relief\/Sudden Improvement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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