Oregon taking a sledgehammer to suffering in silence

Oregon is trying to #BreakTheSilence

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 9, 2019

To tell the truth that is the way to save lives. #BreakTheSilence and make it safe for someone to talk about what is going on. Most of the time they just need someone to listen. 

But that is not all. They need the one listening to them to actually listen and not try to "fix them" or judge them, or look at their watch as if they want to be someplace else at that moment.

You need to know who to call if the person you are listening to needs more help than you can give.

There is only one reason a person decides that they do not want to try one more day. They ran out of hope that it would be any different than their worst day was. Help them know that there is hope and they do matter.

Whatever you do DO NOT KEEP SPREADING SUICIDE AWARENESS because all that does it let them know you did not care enough to not buy into the BS that has done more harm than good.

How do you break the silence? With the sledgehammer called knowledge that there is hope of healing! If you read this site with any frequency, you've read enough reports to know that Suicide Awareness does not work but Suicide Prevention does. 

We need to make sure we stay on top of what is actually going on so that the people in charge know if what they are doing is working or not.

After 37 years now, I can tell you, making them aware of other veterans who gave up on themselves is the last thing they need to hear. The first thing they need to hear is it is possible to #TakeBackYourLife and live a happier ever after.

Oregon newsrooms team up to 'Break the Silence' around suicide

KTVZ reports to focus on veterans helping veterans
By: Sarah Zimmerman, AP staff writer and KTVZ.COM
Posted: Apr 04, 2019

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — If you're a regular reader or viewer of your local news, it's likely you'll have a good sense of how many people died in a car crash or of a terminal illness. But it's less likely you'll hear when somebody dies by suicide.

It's partly because of a long-held rule across newsrooms not to report on most suicides, out of respect for the family and from the belief that reporting on the topic could have a "contagious effect" and inspire others to also take their own lives.

While there's some evidence for that logic, the nation's growing number of suicides has become difficult for reporters to ignore. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the national suicide rate is at a 50-year high, climbing 33% since 1999. It's estimated 25,000 Americans died by suicide in 2016 alone.

"Journalists stopped covering suicide for some very good reasons," said Nicole Dahmen, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Oregon. "But the unintended consequence of that is that suicide has remained unreported, and death by suicide has been on the rise so much so that it's become a public health crisis."

The issue has prompted reporters in Oregon, which has a suicide rate 40% higher than the national average, to take a different approach to tackling the topic.

Over 30 newsrooms from around the state, including NewsChannel 21, are banding together in an unprecedented, weeklong reporting collaboration to shed light on suicide and its effect on the community. The project, known as "Breaking the Silence," will run from April 7 to 14 and involve newspapers, TV stations and student media organizations across Oregon.
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BREAKING THE SILENCE: Rural areas have higher suicide rates

The Oregonian/OregonLive
By Carol Cruzan Morton
April 7, 2019

A focus on suicide prevention is showing results as Oregon combats one of nation's highest rates of suicide. This report lists resources to help.

Oregon’s suicide rate has been higher than the national average for the past three decades. More than 800 people killed themselves last year in Oregon.

The problem affects everyone. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people, but 90 percent of Oregon’s suicides are by people older than 25 years old. Most suicides are men, but it crosses social, economic, and geographic boundaries.

The highest rates are shared by groups with deep historical and cultural differences—white men and Native Americans. One in every five suicides is a veteran.

These heartbreaking statistics are part of a longstanding and perplexing pattern of higher suicide rates in the West. For decades, the western half of the country, stretching from Montana to Texas and west to California and Alaska, reported persistently higher suicide rates.

Now they are highest in the Rocky Mountain states and Alaska, with Oregon not far behind.

No one really knows why.
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