Jan. 30--STOCKTON -- Suicide is a preventable tragedy.
But no one wants to talk about it, and that's the problem.
It has such a strong stigma that potential suicide risks, teenagers in particular, might be exhibiting all the signs of depression, isolation and 180-degree behavior change in a vacuum.
Few know how to help.
The problems of suicide are acute in San Joaquin County, where:
-- Ten percent of the 707 deaths investigated by the county coroner in 2011, the most recent year of compiled data, were suicides.
-- According to kidsdata.org,, about 20 percent of those suicides involved people 15 to 24 years old.
-- The county's youth-suicide rate is higher than the California average: 7.6 per 100,000 residents vs. 7.2.
-- More than 150 young people from 5 to 20 were hospitalized in the county in 2011 for self-inflicted injuries.
"Prevention is where it's at," said Lynn Tarrant, deputy director of San Joaquin County mental-health services. "We need to do more before it's a crisis, before hospitalization. Nobody wants a kid to die on their watch -- not a teacher, not a pastor, not a health-care provider."
To that end, the Office of Education and San Joaquin County Behavioral Health Services are putting on the county's first Suicide Prevention Symposium on Thursday.
The goal is simple: to equip people to identify the signs early, to be confident in intervention and to know and access available resources.
"There's a need for this symposium," Tarrant said. "We have concern for our young people who are making a choice of suicide."
The keynote speaker is Richard Lieberman, coordinator of the youth-suicide prevention unit for the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
Participants also will learn about QPR, an acronym that stands for Question, Persuade, Refer -- a three-step process designed to save lives. Developed in 1995, QPR is an emergency mental-health intervention that can be employed by anyone.
It is not unlike CPR in that it can be taught and used to save lives. Its three steps are:
-- Question: Recognize the warning signs of suicide.
-- Persuade: Know how to offer hope.
-- Refer: Know how to get help and save a life.
The public-health dynamic for assistance to troubled young people and their families has changed in recent years because of government funding cutbacks.
"In the past, teachers who saw behavior changes would refer students to counselors," said Sheri Coburn, director of comprehensive health programs for the county Office of Education.
"Now they are referring them to county mental health and to crisis lines."
Coburn and Tarrant believe the approach to suicide and nonsuicidal self-injury needs to become a communitywide concern.
"There are more kids in crisis, more youths hospitalized," Tarrant said. "Mental health has really expanded. We are intervening more often."
The symposium's goal is to educate a wide range of individuals: parents, neighbors, school bus drivers, church workers, anyone who works or associates with teenagers.
Tammy Souza, a Stockton-based family and marriage therapist, said young people face daunting challenges.
"There are pressures -- social, academic and from their peers -- that are greater for kids," Souza said. "And when they feel a lack of support or feel isolated with no one to talk to, no adult role model, sometimes in the heat of the moment, their brain switches off.
"And they make an impulsive decision -- maybe to swallow a bunch of pills, maybe to cut themselves. They might be remorseful later, but the attempt has been made."
Contact reporter Kevin Parrish at (209) 546-8264 or kparrish@recordnet.com.
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