Crisis Services

If someone exhibits the following warning signs, they may be at immediate risk of suicide:Threatening to hurt or kill themself or talking of wanting to hurt or kill themselfLooking for ways to kill themself by seeking access to firearms, available pills or other meansTalking or writing about death, dying or suicide when these actions are out of the ordinaryAsk them specifically if they are thinking of killing themself. Be direct and non-judgmental. Stay with them, especially if they appear to be at immediate risk. Then, call 911 and ask for a Crisis Intervention Trained officer or call a local crisis line.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness, including the Utah chapter, calls this a “wellness recovery action plan," also commonly known as a safety plan.

They hope over time to broaden the reach of these screenings.

They encourage educators and providers to ask those in their charge questions about factors that may indicate a mental health issue, Meyers said.

“I think of suicide as a health issue but also as a societal issue. There’s something going on to where people are not feeling hopeful in increasing numbers and don’t see opportunity or goodness out there," Meyers said. "And we really need to change that as a community and in our health care systems. We want to empower them to say, ‘Yeah, I can think about this, and I don’t have to act on it, and here are the ways I’m going to counter those thoughts or change what’s happening.'”

Firearms were responsible for 51 percent of suicide deaths in Utah from 2012

those who struggled with suicidal ideation to realize what that survivor realized before they themselves jumped, metaphorically or literally.

Kim Meyers, suicide prevention coordinator with the Utah Department of Human Services, distinctly remembers a story she once heard of a man who attempted suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.