EL PASO, Texas - More than 200 educational, health, law enforcement and social service professionals gathered at the second annual El Paso and West Texas Suicide Prevention Coalition summit in the Door Christian Fellowship Church, Sept. 14, to provide protection, education, awareness and compassion for people impacted by suicide.

“Suicide is everybody’s business,” said Robert Hortsman, coalition spokesperson and detective for El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. “It is no longer someone else’s problem. It is everyone’s problem.”

The morning session of the summit focused on youth suicides with representatives from the Jason Foundation and Operation No Gangs holding the floor.

According to Jeanne Resendez from the Jason Foundation, an educational organization dedicated to youth suicide awareness and prevention, suicide is the third leading cause of death for U.S. youths, ages 15 through 24. It accounts for more youth deaths than cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, influenza, pneumonia and chronic lung problems combined.

Rob Gallardo, director of Operation No Gangs, explained that bullying is a cause for youth suicides. He started by defining bullying as the activity of repeated aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person physically or mentally. Then, he shared stories about bullying that led to youth suicides.

He told the attendees about a teen, who was bullied at school after announcing he was a homosexual. Gallardo continued by describing the threats this teen received from his classmates. They told him they wanted to burn, torture and kill him because of his sexual orientation. Eventually, the teen reached his breaking point and took his own life.

Gallardo warned that people must be careful when speaking because there is no way of knowing how their words are going to effect another person.

“Words are like bullets, because once we say them, we can’t take them back,” said Gallardo. “Some words are like poison bullets.”

Bullets, figuratively and literally, are challenges that Soldiers at Fort Bliss, the focus of the summit’s evening session, may face during their military careers.

“Fort Bliss has the lowest suicide rate in the Army,” said Steve Gruenewald, Fort Bliss health promotion officer. “We try to effect change through connecting, understanding and assisting. If we assist someone, we understand them because we have connected with them.”

Gruenewald attributed Team Bliss’ success to a holistic approach of building resilient soldiers through Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, Comprehensive Soldier Fitness training, and Ask, Care Escort training.

ASIST and ACE training teaches soldiers how to identify a person that is contemplating suicide, and it teaches how to intervene and prevent a suicide. CSF prevents soldiers from having suicidal ideations by strengthening their emotional, family, physical, social and spiritual dimensions.

Training and awareness helps identify signs of suicide and courses of action to prevent suicide; however, training and awareness mean nothing without action. Gallardo summed up the day by saying, “When [suicide] indicators are there, we must step-up, take responsibility and act.”

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention webpage lists the following warning signs for suicide:

• Threatening to hurt or kill oneself
• Looking for ways to kill oneself (weapons, pills or other means)
• Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide
• Has made plans or preparations for a potentially serious suicide attempt
• Insomnia
• Intense anxiety, panic attacks
• Feeling desperate, hopeless, rage, trapped
• Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities
• Engaging in violent or self-destructive behavior
• Increasing alcohol or drug use
• Withdrawing from friends or family

For more information about the El Paso and West Texas Suicide Prevention Coalition, visit their Facebook page. For help with managing a suicide crisis contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

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