Suicide awareness workshop Part I

By Patsy Stoddard

The new suicide prevention working group hosted their first meeting with guest speaker Taryn Hiatt. She is the national suicide foundation director for the states of Utah and Nevada.
The group is being sponsored by the Emery County Sheriff’s Office and the Emery County Progress. Suicide is one of the many social problems hitting the nation, state and Emery County. Rural areas are problem areas according to Hiatt because services are fewer and harder to get to for rural residents.
Everyone was invited to the workshop. Anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts, anyone with loved ones who have died by suicide and those interested in getting involved to talk about the issue and raise awareness in the community.
Detective Tyson Huntington welcomed everyone to the workshop. He thanked Taryn for coming to help the group get going. “We will continue to have these meetings for those who struggle. This is an issue we face here and see all the time.”
Hiatt said, “I am glad to be here, we are on our way to an Out of Darkness suicide prevention walk in St. George. My dad died by suicide 15 years ago. I heard all those statements like, ‘what a coward.’ I just thought how dare you. You don’t know, he had suffered for a long time with a lot of stuff.
“Was there more we could have done? Back then I searched for answers I searched for organizations that could help. There wasn’t an organization. Everything was shame based. People were ignorant, uniformed, they just didn’t know or have information.
“I decided at that time, I could shame them or educate them, when people made comments, I decided to educate them. It would be more beneficial and lead to a greater understanding. The S word, there was a fear to talk about it with people who were struggling; fear they might do it.
“Avoiding it is not the answer. Today there is someone wandering in the desert, he was trained to kill people. Our society, our community needs to allow him to live again in our community. We need to do a better job supporting folks like that,” said Hiatt. (At the time of this guest speaker, the sheriff was on a search in the desert for a suicidal Marine. Everything turned out OK as the Marine was found and he was without a weapon and planned to camp for a couple weeks in the desert.)
Hiatt told of a disturbing experience she had on the freeway the other day. There had been a car accident and a man was lying on the freeway and it was obvious he wasn’t going to make it. No one would approach him, but she went up to him and held him in her arms as he passed away.
“He died, it was disturbing, your brain has to process what you go through, talking about it will help.
“We need to understand suicide better. There is so much misinformation. Ignorance leads to more people dying. What can each of us do to save people? You don’t have the services down here that are available in an urban area. Each one of us can play a role in helping others.
“There are one million suicide attempts every year. These are painful moments of people wanting to die. There are people who have survived a suicide attempt and everything turned around. They say, ‘look what I would have missed if I had died. I wouldn’t of had that experience’
“But, the mind that creates the problem can’t solve it. You need to open your mouth and share it with someone else. We need someone else to give us the answer. When we struggle this is what we’re up against.
“There is fear to let someone in to talk to them. There is pride. We’re pioneers, rugged stock we think we have to have all the answers. It’s OK to open up. There are a lot of people I respond to on Facebook. I listen to them. It’s OK to talk about it. It’s OK if we don’t have all the answers. I can listen, I can let someone else get it all out and then see what we can do next.
“I am passionate about this topic. Suicide is a health issue. It is not a sin. That’s old stuff, it’s not a crime. Don’t say committed suicide. That feels like they are doing something wrong. The brain is sick. It’s a decision to die it’s not a choice. People in that situation have no option. There were 12 suicides in Utah this past week. You can prevent suicide. It’s preventable. I didn’t know what my dad was facing. We didn’t learn about it until after he died. You can’t blame yourself.
“Say, stop and talk to me. Ask them what’s going on. Everyone in our country should have access to mental health care. See a doctor. The brain is the most important organ we have. See someone. Talk to someone. Of the 800,000 who died by suicide, half of them died by a firearm. If you’re in a space where your head is not OK, having access to firearms is bad. If you own a firearm make sure you practice safety, keep guns locked up. Keep ammo locked up away from the guns. Be aware of it, then in that moment, when you’re in that mindset, you won’t have access to a weapon.
“I struggle with suicidal thoughts, when I am in that state, I have a trigger lock. I get the gun out of the home. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the nation. In the state of Utah it’s the leading cause of death for ages 10-24; for ages 45-65 it’s third; for ages 35-54 it’s second.
“Why is suicide so high in Utah. We don’t talk about it. We have perfection issues. We think we have to be perfect. There’s a lot of pressure. We need to re-evaluate” said Hiatt.
One of the people attending the workshop said her daughter listens to a song with suicide in the lyrics. If you hear it all the time, it becomes an OK solution. Another talked of the violence in video games and seeing images and thinking it’s OK.
Hiatt said, “Look at what we’re exposed to, it’s a lot more than we used to be.”
“Another factor is the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountain belt. Higher elevations result in decreased serotonin levels. Elevation plays a role. Rural communities are more isolated, the farther you are away from care the more isolated you feel. People need to feel connected with other people. One life lost to suicide is too many. For every person who dies there are 25 others who attempt. When they’re gone you can’t talk to them. If they are attempting, then they are still here. You need to speak up