Suicide prevention and mental health resources growing in Northeast Indiana

More resources than ever are available to help people deal with mental health issues, something Jennifer Barnes of Mental Health American of Northeast Indiana says wasn’t widely available to her when she dealt with losing her father from suicide in 2003.

Statistics from the allen county coroner's office reveal that so far in 20-20, 31 people have died by suicide.

That roughly one person every 9 days lost to suicide.

September is suicide prevention awareness month and the number of suicide and mental health resources available in our community is growing, especially for youn caleb ple.

Fox 55 saylor has more.

More resources than ever are available to help people deal with mental health issues.

Something jennifer barnes of mental health america of northeas indiana says wasn widely available to her when she dealt with losing her father from suicide in 2003 here weren't a lot of resources than i rememberkind of just googling it oh, i don't even think it was google back then, just looking it up and not having a lot of resources.

Now, there are tremendous resources.

Of northeast indiana, they offer suicide prevention courses, support groups, facebook pages, hotlines to call for people contemplating suicide, and they also provide support for families and friends who have lost someone to suicide in the united states, up to 42 college students take their own life every day and in indiana, suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens.

Mary ross with purdue fort wayne leads project compass.

She says through new grants, students and staff at pfw and iufw have more mental health resources to help, especially dealing with covid-19 grief t allowed us a lot of those resources around covid, around preparing.

It allowed us a lot of resources around grief and loss, and how we take our next step.

So, our next step is actually bringing mental health first aid to campus for faculty, staff, and students.

Now through programming, the university has 127 student gatekeepers trains to recognize suicide in students and help with intervention.

Barnes and ross agree that one of the biggest suicide prevention tips is breaking the stigma of mental health, treating an injured brain just like any other injured body part n reality it's just like a broken arm it's the same thing it's absolutely okay to not be okay as long as you're going to reach out and we can get your help and support for that.

Wayne, caleb saylor, fox 55 news wel have a link to multiple mental health resources in this story on our website, w- f-f-t