Saving Lives - Here's How to Help

I am proud to be associated with the Long Island Crisis Center, and I am writing this blog so that you can learn more about it, and hopefully contribute in some small way to save lives. 

Please join me at the LICC Suicide Prevention Walk in Long Beach on September 15, 2019. Consider supporting the LICC by volunteering, or making a donation in any amount. Visit: www.LongIslandCrisisCenter.org for more info.

The Statistics

According to a 2016 article in the New York Times, suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years, with increases in nearly every age group. The rise was particularly steep for women. It was also substantial among middle-aged Americans (ages 45 to 64).

The increases were so widespread that they lifted the nation’s suicide rate to 13 per 100,000 people, the highest since 1986. The rate rose by 2 percent a year starting in 2006, double the annual rise in the earlier period of the study. In all, 42,773 people died from suicide in 2014, compared with 29,199 in 1999. (FYI: The rate declined for just one racial group: black men. And it declined for only one age group: men and women over 75.)

About Suicide and LICC 

Suicide is a growing problem in our society, and it is preventable. The Long Island Crisis Center (LICC) Suicide hotline is a lifeline to youth, adults and seniors at their most desperate moments. LICC works closely with the police (to trace calls and prevent suicides in emergency situations) and the mental health professional community (to provide referrals to therapists). LICC also does a significant amount of outreach to educate the public, schools and communities about the risk of suicide, cyberbullying, and LGBTQ outreach through Pride for Youth.

The Long Island Crisis Center was founded in 1971. It is a non profit, multi-service community based organization whose mission is to provide seniors, families, adults and youth throughout Long Island with free, high quality, confidential services to address a wide range of concerns. At LICC, we believe that everyone has the right to free and anonymous help at any time, no matter who they are or what their needs might be. This belief underlies LICC's mission. In fulfilling its mission, LICC provides nonjudgmental services that help clients break through isolation, stabilize their situations, and obtain the services they need, supporting healthy living and greater personal empowerment.

 Why is Suicide on the Rise?

Experts believe that there is a link between suicides in middle age and rising rates of distress about jobs and personal finances. But there have also been alarming increases in teen and even preteen suicides. “This is part of the larger emerging pattern of evidence of the links between poverty, hopelessness and health,” said Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard and the author of “Our Kids,” an investigation of new class divisions in America.

Julie Phillips, a professor of sociology at Rutgers who has studied suicide among middle-aged Americans, said social changes could be raising the risks. Marriage rates have declined, particularly among less educated Americans, while divorce rates have risen, leading to increased social isolation, she said. She calculated that in 2005, unmarried middle-aged men were 3.5 times more likely than married men to die from suicide, and their female counterparts were as much as 2.8 times more likely to kill themselves. The divorce rate has doubled for middle-aged and older adults since the 1990s, she said. Disappointed expectations of social and economic well-being among less educated white men from the baby-boom generation may also be playing a role, she said. Another possible explanation: an economy that has eaten away at the prospects of families on the lower rungs of the income ladder. Experts have confirmed the association between economic downturns and suicide going back to the 1920s and found that suicide was highest when the economy was weak. One of the highest rates in the country’s modern history, he said, was in 1932, during the Great Depression, when the rate was 22.1 per 100,000, about 70 percent higher than in 2014.

More about LICC:

**LICC maintains 24 hour/ 7 day hotlines for Suicide Intervention and Prevention, Children of Hope (abandoned newborn babies), teen runaways, and help for seniors. LICC receives 50 calls per day regarding suicides, and is a member of the National Suicide Hotline (1-800- SUICIDE and 1-800-273 TALK).

LICC Counselors do extensive training, over 200 hours, which takes up to a full year to complete. The counselors provide short term crisis counseling, not psychotherapy.

Jacqueline Harounian, Esq. is on the Board of The Long Island Crisis Center and previously volunteered as a counselor assistant.