September is the month we recognize National Suicide Prevention awareness, and Geneva, for one, is tackling this critical issue head on.
The city, in collaboration with Geneva School District 304, Geneva Park District and Geneva Public Library District, is launching a “You Matter” campaign leaders hope will make a “meaningful impact” on the mental well-being of the community.
Highlights include the ongoing partnership between the Geneva Police Department – 92% of its officers are trained in crisis intervention – and the Association for Individual Development to provide an on-site social worker for all citizens.
Other bullet points: The city’s Mental Health Board distributed $200,000 in grants last year to 15 local organizations serving Geneva residents; the high school’s Peer Leadership Program and Students Against Destructive Decisions hosted a “Chalk Talk” Tuesday and decorated sidewalks in support of Suicide Awareness Day; and the park district and library are providing information and resources for this campaign that aims to reduce the stigma associated with suicide.
Communities are winning some battles but the war is still raging, say local experts, who cite social media and economic pressures among the factors that have created this mental health tsunami hitting so many individuals and families we know and love.
“Just look at what’s going on in the world … there’s no question it is on the rise,” said Stephanie Weber, who as executive director of Suicide Prevention Services has been on the front lines of this fight for more than three decades.
To continue those efforts, she told me, Batavia-based Suicide Prevention Services is opening a satellite office in Aurora next month on the second floor of Old Second National Bank, with a ribbon cutting planned for Oct. 4. This location will also feature a branch of SPS’s Stone Manor Counseling, which opened its first office last year at the service’s headquarters at 528 S. Batavia Ave.
Weber and I spoke briefly on Tuesday about the ongoing mental health crisis, particularly the rise of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideations among younger children.
The good news is that “we are doing more in the schools,” she said of Suicide Prevention Services programs, especially with West Aurora District 129, where the focus has expanded to include not only adolescent students but those in fifth grade, and beginning next semester will include third grade.
Those prevention and intervention programs are led by SPS Associate Executive Director Stephanie Dewinski, who emphasized that in the lower grades the goal is to talk about how to regulate emotions and build resistance.
The idea, she added, is to go from “talking about big feelings” to eventually include conversations such as “how to know when you are in an emotional crisis” and what coping skills can be used.
“People don’t realize how young kids are when some of these feelings start,” said Dewinski, adding that she hopes this program will teach students early on to advocate for themselves.
When it comes to breaking the stigma surrounding suicide, it’s ”still an uphill battle,” she said, then optimistically noted there’s no question “more people are beginning to feel more comfortable talking about it.”
And the more it becomes part of a community effort, she added, “the more it will be treated like any other health issue … where you don’t have to whisper it or change words” when discussing the topic.
Dewinski used the word “awesome” to describe the city of Geneva’s “You Matter” campaign, also noting Batavia Public Library is hosting a “Hope and Resilience” workshop on suicide prevention at 7 p.m. Sept. 18.
“I tell little kids, a chair has many legs so it can stay standing. If one leg gets a little wobbly, there are three others to lean on,” she said.
“It does take a community … we can’t manage things alone.”
For those in need, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by dialing 988. The lifeline is a national network of more than 200 crisis centers that provides 24/7, confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress.
dcrosby@tribpub.com