Suicide Awareness Community Meeting Held in Montgomery

It’s a cause of death for more than 42,000 Americans every year. It’s not a disease or cancer, but suicide.

It doesn’t discriminate and is often difficult to discuss. But, one group in Montgomery is hoping to change that. Therapists at the Samaritan Counseling Center say they’ve seen an increase in suicides throughout the river region. They put together a community meeting on suicide awareness. A national speaker says a common thread of reasons for comes down to a loss of hope and social connection and the River Region is not immune.

Fe Anam Avis, speaker from North Carolina said, “When you are thinking of suicide and you can’t tell somebody, you become even more isolated. So even though people hope that by not talking about it will actually prevent it, what actually happens is people become more isolated and it becomes more likely that they will take their own life.”

The Samaritan Counseling Center is holding an all day training session Tuesday for clergy members and teachers to learn how to identify and help people with suicidal depression.

For more information on suicide prevention, click here: http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/