Suicide Prevention in Juab

On October 14, Juab had a suicide prevention assembly, where two Sandstone psychologists came down. Brandon Morgen, a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified, and Luke Marvin, a Psychologist, shared their knowledge of mental health. Utah has a significantly larger suicide rate than other states. Mostly in young adults and teens. Suicide is now one of the leading causes of death in teens, even more than vehicle accidents. Just because this assembly was only around 30 minutes, that doesn’t mean it’s not important. In the Little Theatre, there was an extreme sense of awkwardness; everyone could tell. Mental health is a very taboo subject. Nobody ever wants to talk about it because they believe if you bring it up to someone who’s having suicidal thoughts, they might kill themselves because they brought it up. That is a huge myth. Most people who deal with these thoughts actually want to talk about this. This is a huge topic, bigger than what we teens should have to deal with. That’s the reality of things. 

Suicidal thoughts can come from anything. Anxiety, depression, drug use. Even doctor-prescribed medicine can cause these thoughts. Common anxiety and depression medications like Fluoxetine or Venlafaxine can cause these thoughts in patients. But we also need to talk about suicide to stop suicide. We need to get rid of this stigma around it and start being open about our feelings. Life changes, like the loss of a family member or moving can lead to suicidal thoughts. But one of the leading causes is bullying. Bullying convinces people that they don’t belong. Even issues with losing friends can cause someone to take their own life. Feeling like you don’t belong causes people to take themselves out of everyone’s lives for good. We don’t want that at Juab. Everyone’s lives matter.

There are always signs of suicide. You just have to look for them. Most of the time, the signs are in actions and words. You might hear someone straight out say that they want to kill themselves or that they don’t want to live anymore. That’s very uncommon; most of the time you’ll hear, “I just want to go to sleep forever” or “Everyone would be better off without me.” Sometimes, people don’t say anything at all. They’ll isolate themselves in their room. A change in mood is also a sign of depression. If you notice yourself or a friend losing interest in one of your favorite things, that is another sign of depression. A lack of sleep or even too much sleep can be a sign of depression. Just because you aren’t feeling like your best self, that doesn’t mean that you have to die. That means you need help.

We can’t get back the lives we’ve lost to suicide, but we can stop more lives from being taken. We have many amazing counselors at our school and even more ones at the Central Valley Medical Center. We have some great counselors from Sandstone Psychology, like Brandon Morgan and Luke Marvin. If you can afford to see a counselor, there are many fundraisers to help you pay off medical debts. Most churches have a program to help with this, but we have many free alternatives as well, like the suicide hotline (988) or Safe UT. Remember that you are never alone; there’s always someone out there that cares for you.

Prevention Lines:

911 (The Police)

988 (Suicade Hotline)

211 (A Mental Health Hotline provided by the State)

Safe UT