Local schools, police working to reduce suicides

By Mark Davis

Powell Tribune

Via Wyoming News Exchange

POWELL — It’s hard to imagine children as young as 5 or 6 in Wyoming considering suicide, yet in the past decade it has become a problem in communities like Powell, according to Jay Curtis, superintendent of Park County School District 1. 

“I could tell you stories about kindergartners that would shock everyone in this room,” he told a small crowd Thursday at Gov. Mark Gordon’s Behavioral Health Care Initiative presentation in the Powell High School auditorium. “Even this week that’s what we’re dealing with.” 

He said he has seen a significant increase in mental health issues in the past decade. 

Since 2014, school administrators and counselors have seen a “tremendous rise” in the issues, he said. 

“Anxiety and depression are probably the [largest issues] that our counselors deal with on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “We started noticing on both the national scale and the local scale, that anxiety, depression, anti-social behaviors at very young ages.” 

Curtis was one of four panelists at the meeting, which included internationally recognized suicidologist and board certified behavior analyst Dr. Kent Corso, retired Powell Police Chief Roy Eckert, and Oxbow Center CEO Mary Johnson. 

A recent survey found that 7% of the students who took the prevention needs assessment actually attempted suicide in some form and 14% of Powell students had suicidal ideation at some point. 

And that’s just from students willing to take the survey. The survey was administered on a volunteer basis to children in the sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades. 

Suicide is the seventh leading cause of death in Wyoming; however, it is the second leading cause of death for ages 10-44, according to the Wyoming Department of Health. 

According to the most recent national statistics, Wyoming has a suicide rate of about 25.6 per 100,000 residents, nearly twice the national average of about 14 per 100,000, and has been rated number one in the country several times in the past decade. 

The National Vital Statistics System reported that men accomplish suicide almost four times more than women. In the most recent reported statistics, about 38,000 men and 9,400 women died from suicide. 

In Wyoming, 155 suicides were reported in the same year. 

Corso, an Air Force veteran, founded the program Proactive Reduction of Suicide in Populations via Evidencebased Research in 2016 and has spent the last 20 years helping rural communities, military and law enforcement organizations to reduce their risk of suicide. 

He said suicide is not necessarily a mental health issue. 

“If we think the medical systems and mental health systems are going to solve suicide for us, we're kidding ourselves,” he said. 

He told the small crowd you don't need to be a psychiatrist to be a part of a solution. 

“It's a social issue, just like homelessness or poverty or bullying,” he said. 

However, it’s an extremely tough issue to understand. 

That said, the district is doing everything they can to reverse the trend. 

A recent ban on cellphone use during the school day is just one of the actions the district is taking to help with mental health. Curtis said social media apps like Snapchat have “caused a tremendous amount of grief for us over the years.” 

The high school took an internal poll and found 90% of teachers found cellphone use “a barrier to learning,” he said. 

So far the policy change has been accepted by students and families, he said. 

Curtis often receives calls when folks get mad, but he said he hasn’t received any calls so far about the phone ban. 

Powell Middle School also prohibits the use of cellphones and other electronic communication devices on campus during school hours with the exception of emergencies. It allows for disciplinary action, including confiscation. 

More schools are opting for stricter cellphone policies on the state and national level in response to the “addictive nature” of cellphones. 

Dramatic increase in suicidal ideation

Park County and city law enforcement officials have responded to 178 calls for suicidal ideation between the beginning of the year and late August, said Eckert. 

He isn’t sure if the dramatic increase is due to the word getting out that resources are available. 

County officials have also responded to 86 additional calls just for other mental health crises. 

“In our coalition work we've heard more and more from the youth regarding levels of anxiety and stress in their lives,” Eckert said, later adding, “One thing that we cannot overlook is the addiction portion of technology. Just like people who are addicted to drugs, alcohol, you know, any number of things, there's oftentimes depression that goes along with [addiction to cellphones].” 

The former police chief and an initiative coalition member said one of the largest obstacles in offering help to those in need is the lack of resources. 

“The majority of our country are in a spot where we just don't have the resources 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said. 

Fighting for resources

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a great resource, he said, but departments are all fighting for more resources to help communities. 

Due to the expense of adding to their staffs, agencies are looking into a mobile platform, like iPads, for telehealth, to give officers an option in the car when they respond to mental health issues. 

“We're not trying to replace “mental health professionals” at 2 a.m. when we need somebody in that house. But our community mental health agencies struggle to hire staff, just like everybody else,” Eckert said. “Being able to staff their office hours is hard enough, and then maybe having somebody on a call is even more challenging just to come to the emergency, let alone being able to bring them to the scene.” 

Despite all the efforts since Gordon created the initiative, the Powell conference was lightly attended, and those in attendance were mostly education, health care and faith-based professionals. 

An aide for Gordon said organizers of the event had hoped to have more parents and people from the community in attendance — especially to hear Dr. Corso, who is internationally acclaimed. 

In an informal survey of those in the audience who have lost a loved one to suicide, almost every person in the crowd and on the panel raised their hand. It seems like the pain of losses is the common denominator driving those involved in dealing with mental health issues in Wyoming communities as they struggle with an epidemic of suicides. 

“One of the most unfortunate aspects to suicide is that it leaves many behind in lots of pain,” Corso said. 

Gordon’s initiative is committed to embracing a philosophical shift from a culture deeply rooted in independence and self-reliance that fosters a narrative of “pull yourself up by your bootstraps,” to a culture of resilience and acceptance that supports a new narrative of “it’s OK to not be OK.” 

The governor’s initiative combined with current Community Behavioral Health Reform creates potential for monumental change in behavioral health services for Wyoming residents. The next generation of Wyoming residents has the potential to maintain the independent spirit of the West while embracing the value of connectedness and helping one’s neighbor.

To learn more about Governor Gordon’s Mental Health Initiative and Wyoming’s commitment to advancing behavioral health services, check out wygovmentalhealth.wyo.gov/ wy-we-care.

This story was published on September 10, 2024.