24 HOUR CRISIS LINE (316) 660-7500
24 hour Suicide Prevention
If
you or someone you know is talking about
SUICIDE…
please call
Suicide Prevention Services - 24
hours / 7 days per week
(316) 660-7500
Crisis Intervention Services (CIS) has been the suicide prevention service for many years in Sedgwick County. At CIS, priority is given to assessment of and intervention with callers who are at risk for suicide.
The Economy and Suicide
The current world economic crisis has led to increased media and personal interest in the relationship between the economy and suicide.
Link 4 Life Run
The Sedgwick County Suicide Prevention
Coalition
hosted the 6th Annual ‘Link 4 Life’ Run/Walk for
Suicide Prevention on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at
the Sedgwick County Zoo.
Take a look at some of the photos from this year's event.
Report Finds Rise in Suicide Among White, Middle-Aged Americans
Middle-aged white Americans are an emerging high-risk group for potential suicide, according to a study published in the December American Journal of Preventive Medicine [35(6):589-593]. Before 1999, white middle-aged men were the least likely to kill themselves. However, for the period from 1999 to 2005, the rate for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans declined or stayed stable even as middle-aged whites experienced a significant increase in suicides. The total number of suicides in the United States between 1986 and 1999 decreased by 1.2% each year, but in 2000, this trend reversed. From that year through 2005, the rate of suicide among whites ages 40 to 64 increased about 3% from year to year, with white middle-aged women experiencing the largest annual increase. The researchers also conducted a detailed analysis of suicide methods across specific population groups. While firearms remain the predominant method, the rate of firearm suicides decreased during the study period. Suicide by hanging or suffocation increased markedly with a 6.3% annual increase among men and a 2.3% annual increase among women. Hanging/suffocation accounted for 22% of all suicides by 2005, surpassing poisoning at 18%. The study recommends development of prevention programs for people in their middle years and preventive attention to the notable increases in suicide by hanging/suffocation in men and by poisoning in women.
Mental Health Parity Becomes Law
Mental health advocates marked 2008 as a year in which they helped win passage of a landmark law to bring mental health parity protection to more than 100 million Americans covered by group health insurance. Passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act owes much to a relentless battle waged in order to educate lawmakers, win their support for comprehensive parity legislation, and persuade them to make parity’s enactment a vital priority. Also achieved was another critical victory toward ending all discrimination against people with mental health needs: Legislation phasing out the inequitable 50 percent co-pay requirement on outpatient mental health care under the Medicare program. Supporters believe these longstanding discriminatory practices have helped keep stigma alive. With each legislative victory over discrimination it comes closer to the day that all people view mental health conditions no differently than any other health condition.
2010 Coalition Members
David Arst
Bev Baalman
Claudia Blackburn
Kevin Bomhoff
Susan Carr M.D.
Harold Casey - Chair
Lois Clendening
Jason Deselms, Ph.D
Deborah Donaldson
Shelley Duncan
Jennifer Elliott
Annette Graham
Liz McGinness
Jeff Harris
Rose Mary Mohr, Ph.D.
De Andre Morris
Terri Moses
Mercedes Perales M.D.
Jason Scheck - Co-Chair
Susan Smith
Elsie Steelberg, M.D.
Cornelia Stevens
John Sullivan
Debbie Willsie
Kristin Zenishek
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