LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As the new school year gets underway, on Thursday, state leaders and health officials are launching a youth suicide prevention campaign to reduce the number of teens who die by suicide in Nevada. SilverSummit Healthplan invested $1.5 million to help local non-profit Hope Means Nevada with its mission to eliminate teen suicide by providing Nevada youth and their families with free resources to improve mental health.
“There has been an uptick in suicide since COVID hit,” said Julie Murray, Hope Means Nevada co-founder and co-chair. “When schools were shut down and teens lost connectivity to one another, they lost their sporting events, they lost their social interactions. Suicides and suicide ideation increased.”
In February 2022, the CDC reportedthat suicide became the second-leading cause of death for 8 to 24-year-olds. For 17-year-olds and younger, Nevada went from 23rd/24th in the nation to 18th in the number of teen suicides. The youngest age went from 12 in 2019 to 8 in 2020.
Clark County not only suffers from a shortage of teachers but also a shortage of mental health professionals including counselors and social workers.
The new campaign involves various aspects, including the ability to walk into a northern Nevada and southern Nevada clinic, free online assessments, an important resource website, advertising, and statewide resource phone numbers to immediately call if in distress.
