It Takes a Village (and Funding) to Prevent Youth Suicide
/by Sarah Healy Eagan
The obligations of the Office of Child Advocate are to review, investigate, and make public recommendations regarding how our state-funded systems meet the needs of vulnerable children.
OCA supports the goals of House Bill 5146 which seeks to train and inform community members regarding suicide prevention efforts. Such training is essential to combat the growing numbers of children who seek to end their own lives. OCA looks forward to partnering with this Committee and other necessary stakeholders, in particular our colleagues at the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Department of Children and Families—the current co-chairs of the State’s Suicide Advisory Board—to ensure this legislation is well positioned to build on existing initiatives regarding suicide prevention training.
Suicidality and despair are a real phenomenon among children
Between January 2001 and December 2019, Connecticut has lost 165 children to suicide. Boys accounted for 61% of those suicide deaths and girls accounted for 39%. For the past 8 years, girls have been dying at a similar rate as boys. Although the numbers are small relative to the total population. Youth suicide has a devastating impact to the youth’s family, school, and community, and the ripple effect of each tragedy cannot be overstated. A death from suicide is a death like no other, it carries shame, stigma, and concerns for contagion.
Connecticut Suicide Data 2018: Seven Youth Suicides
Suicide has risen to be the second leading cause of death nationwide for children age 10 and above
Historically, most children who died from suicide were white, but children of color are increasingly represented in this child fatality group.
The age of children attempting and dying from suicide has been trending younger and younger over the last 15 years.
All of the children who died from suicide in 2018 were between the ages of 11-17, with a median age of 16; 4 children were boys and 3 were girls. Six of the children died from asphyxia by hanging.
Centers for Disease Control’s Youth Risky Behavior Survey—Connecticut Data
According to the Department of Public Health, the Connecticut School Health Survey (CSHS) is a school-based survey of students in grades 9 - 12, with randomly chosen classrooms within selected schools, and is anonymous and confidential. It is also nationally known as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The health survey previously had two components, the Youth Behavior Component (YBC), and Youth Tobacco Component (YTC), and has been successfully administered in Connecticut since 2005. Below are excerpts from one of the state’s recent reports.
18.4 % -- The percentage of youth in grades 9 through 12 who responded yes to the question of whether they had done something to purposely hurt themselves without wanting to die. Hispanic youth now lead this category with affirmative responses.
26.9% -- The percentage of youth who responded that they had felt sad or hopeless for more than two weeks during the previous year. More than 1/3 of girls participating in this survey answered “yes” to this question. Of those answering yes to this question, only a quarter of those youth stated that they got the help that they needed, a decrease of 14 percentage points since 2005.
13.5% -- The percentage of youth who responded that they had seriously contemplated attempting suicide in the previous 12 months. Girls of color now lead this category. 8.1% -- The percentage of youth who responded that yes, they had tried to attempted suicide in the previous 12 months. Black youth recently led in this category.
The above-referenced data tells us we have much work to do to ensure that children are growing up healthy, safe, and strong. They are telling us what they need. We must listen. No child should feel they have to resort to self-harm, and communities supporting and interacting with youth must be informed and empowered to assist.
Connecticut Suicide Advisory Board (CTSAB)
DCF and DMHAS co-chair this volunteer body composed of state officials, community-based providers and advocates, and suicide attempt and loss survivors. The CTSAB examines and promotes evidence-based suicide prevention curriculums. The mission of the CTSAB is described here: https://www.preventsuicidect.org/resources/training/ , and is embodied in its 1 Word, 1 Voice, 1 Life campaign. The collaborative emphasizes the following on its website:
In order to prevent suicide, it is imperative that lay-persons up through professionals gain the knowledge and practice to become competent in identifying individuals at risk of suicide and connecting them to help, just as with First Aid.
“Between January 2001 and December 2019, Connecticut has lost 165 children to suicide… the state’s Strategic Plan for Suicide Prevention emphasizes the need for community-based training to promote youth wellness and reduce youth suicide risk … similar work in Massachusetts receives a $4 million line item appropriation. Funding would go a long way to helping state and local leaders scale up suicide prevention programs and training.”
Through the efforts of the CTSAB, Connecticut has various curricula for suicide prevention already utilized throughout the state, including Question Persuade Refer (QPR), Signs of Suicide (SOS), Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASSIST) and others. These curricula are designed for various target populations. QPR is the most popular and relevant of the trainings, since it is for the general population and can be completed in less than a half a day. It is known as the "CPR" of behavioral health. Over the years, DCF, the Child Advocate’s Office, and the CTSAB has funded or performed numerous prevention trainings and several QPR train-the-trainer programs.
The CTSAB authored the state’s Strategic Plan for Suicide Prevention, which emphasizes the need for community-based training to promote youth wellness and reduce youth suicide risk.
No state appropriation for suicide prevention work
Despite the critical nature of the collaborative’s mission, the work of the CTSAB is entirely supported by federal grant dollars and volunteer time. This work receives no specific state line item. It may be worth considering that similar work going on in the neighboring state of Massachusetts receives a 4 million dollar line item appropriation. Funding would go a long way to helping state and local leaders scale up suicide prevention programs and training.
Recommendations
Prevention efforts should capitalize on existing evidence-based trainings such as QPR and work to scale up training efforts in local communities.
The State should provide a specific appropriation for this work to support critical community training efforts.
Sarah Healy Eagan is Child Advocate for the State of Connecticut. This testimony was submitted by the Office of Child Advocate to the state legislature’s Committee on Children in February 2020.
