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Mirror readers had the opportunity earlier this month to read about a number of ways Pennsylvania and its elected officials are hoping to cut down on teen suicide deaths.
The important Blair County element of the article is this county is among 10 Keystone State counties that are being offered the opportunity to participate in a pilot program aimed at combating that problem.
The other nine counties are Berks, Dauphin, Franklin, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Sullivan, Venango and Wayne.
No county being offered participation in such an initiative should reject the opportunity, since those being offered participation, according to the March 21 article in question, have been identified as having the highest suicide attempt burden.
According to the article, the anticipated Grant Agreement term is July 1 of this year to June 30, 2026. Funding for the counties' participation is to come from the Federal Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant, with the money being administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 will be the focus of the pilot program's suicide preventative strategies.
Meanwhile, among a number of other ideas being discussed in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to address the suicide problem are beefed-up requirements for school suicide reporting and student mental health days, with rules similar to what are in effect currently regarding sick days.
However, one other idea stands out in terms of getting to a potential root contributing to the scope of the suicide problem for young people.
That proposal would involve legislation for establishing a task force to study the impacts social media are having with this horrific problem.
Such a task force should be required to gather as much information as possible regarding specific cases where young people, influenced by what they accessed on social media, decided to end their lives.
And, that task force should not be inhibited about presenting detailed, specific information in its report or reports, rather than just a compilation of generalities that fail to touch the sensitivities of this commonwealth's residents. Such a task force should comprise some of the state's best experts regarding the problem, as well as some family members of those who took their own lives.
A Dec. 3, 2019, Wall Street Journal article headlined "A new focus on suicide's survivors," provided the following message: "As suicides rise in the U.S., more attention is turning to the struggles of the people left behind. New research shows just how severe the aftermath is -- and that it is different from other kinds of loss. People who lose a loved one to suicide are at greater risk for post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide themselves. The grief can be longer-lasting and more debilitating."
More people need to be able to recognize and respond to warning signs that someone they know might be considering self-harm and, yes, schools need to be more transparent about their individual numbers and experiences related to the problem -- information that might "open eyes" elsewhere.
Student mental health days could provide an interesting opportunity, if established correctly.
The proposed pilot program is another beginning for an issue that is not accorded the sustained attention it deserves, although some might disagree. Hopefully, the pilot program, as it would affect Blair County, would encourage uninterrupted attention and additional ideas, going forward.