September is Suicide Prevention Month and Prevent Suicide Wisconsin has released a call to action to guide and support suicide prevention in Wisconsin over the next five years.
This guidance is included in the report, Suicide in Wisconsin: Impact and Response, which presents the most up-to-date picture of suicidal behavior in Wisconsin based on surveys, death records, and hospital data.
It also outlines four strategies and 50 opportunities for action that, when taken as a whole, provide a path toward reducing the incalculable loss related to suicide attempts and deaths.
The suicide rate jumped by 40% in the state between 2000 and 2017, with a high rate in the 45-54-year-old age group.
So far this year, two people have died by suicide in Manitowoc County, compared to 20 all last year.
While this is trending in the right direction, even one suicide is one too many.
The full Prevent Suicide Wisconsin report can be found at dhs.wisconsin.gov/publications/p02657.pdf
