First Suicide Prevention Task Force Report Unveiled

NEW YORK, NY — With an eye toward stemming a devastating tide, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the release of the first suicide prevention task force report.

The task force supports high-risk groups including veterans, Latinas and the LGBTQ community, he said.

Established by Cuomo in November, 2017, the task force aims to increase awareness of and access to supportive services. Recommendations from the report include strengthening public health prevention efforts, integrating suicide prevention in healthcare, timely sharing of data for surveillance and planning, and infusing cultural competence throughout suicide prevention activities, he said.

The report features a first person account of despair.

“In 2011, as a university student in Washington, D.C., I was in the midst of a severe depressive episode. Each new day brought new evidence that, in my self-imposed isolation, I was unloved, unwanted, and unworthy. In my mind, I was worse than useless, because I was actively burdening those around me," the survivor wrote. "Week after week, month after month, as I failed to 'choose' happiness over sadness, to 'choose' strength over weakness, I spiraled into hopelessness. In my depressed mind, I decided that my only sensible option was to remove myself from the equation. In the midst of my suicide attempt, I thought of my friends; my depressed mind questioned, 'What friends?' I thought of my family; my depressed mind told me I would be doing them a favor by freeing them of my presence.

"Too often, this is what the conversation about suicide misses," the survivor wrote. "To an individual who can only feel despair — to someone who is convinced that they are unworthy of life — suicide is a solution. To someone who has never experienced it, it is unthinkable, but when
chronic emotional pain becomes all that one feels, options dwindle and desperation prevails."

Ultimately, the individual said they lived through their suicide attempt because the found themselves in "an adequate, consistent, unified crisis care system — a system that helped transition me from my active crisis, to intervention, to recovery, to routine care, with follow-up from caring and communicative providers. However, I only began my healing once I was financially able to pursue costly services. I only grew in my resilience when I found a therapist who valued treatment personalization and our treatment alliance. I only thrived once I actively sought — and was graciously met with — unceasing empathy from the support networks which orbited my recovery. We are faced with a moral imperative: If we are to save lives, we must consider the barriers to care which often go unaddressed. We must find new ways to reach out to individuals who desperately seek solutions for their struggles. We must provide the solutions
that they seek, in ways that address and circumvent those barriers. This is how we will
reach our goal of Zero Suicide.”

According to the report, suicides have increased significantly across the United States, including in New York State. In June 2017, the Centers for Disease Control released a "disturbing report,"
revealing the extent of the trends, the report said: In the first 15 years of the century, suicide rates in the U.S. population increased by 27.5%. Over that period, the increases were seen across all age
groups and genders, with the exception of men ages 75 or older. New York State was no exception to the national trend, with state suicide rates increasing 29.1% from 1999 to 2016, the report said.

"Although New York State has one of the lowest per capita rates in the nation, we have one of
the highest overall losses of life due to our large population, losing approximately 1,700 New
Yorkers each year to suicide. These trends indicate an urgent need to strengthen and extend
suicide prevention programming," the report said. "Nationally, during a period when many leading causes of early death are decreasing (i.e., cancer, heart disease, motor vehicle accidents), suicide rates began increasing in the early 2000s and accelerated with the Great Recession of 2008. While suicides have increased among youth and young adults, the largest increases have occurred among men and women in the middle years (i.e., ages 35 to 64), with information from national data sources revealing correlations between suicide in middle life and co-occurring financial, familial, and physical health challenges."

Paralleling national trends, suicides among New Yorkers have increased markedly during the
Great Recession, the report said. "Suicide rates are higher in regions experiencing long-term challenges that adversely affect individuals, families, and communities, for example, job growth stagnation and loss of wages. Those effects become apparent when comparing the rates and means of suicide deaths between nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas. Whereas metropolitan regions of New York State saw rate increases of 27.9% from 1999 until 2012, slightly decreasing thereafter, nonmetropolitan regions have seen continued rate increases, reaching a high in 2016.5
However, the overall burden of suicide in terms of total lives lost remains higher in the population-dense New York City metropolitan area," the report continued.

Further analysis revealed concerning trends regarding sub-populations and at-risk communities; for example, suicide rates in 2016 were highest among individuals 50 to 54 years of age, or 13.0
per 100,000, yet that age group has received relatively little focus in suicide prevention, the report said.

Other communities including LGBTQ, Latina females, veterans, city cab drivers, and farmers all experience specific and unique challenges related to suicide and suicidal behavior, the report added. "Finally, while our focus remains on suicide, opiate-related deaths have surged in tandem with suicide deaths across New York State since 2000, representing a crisis in loss of life and an imperative to action in our communities," the report stated.

"It is critical that every New Yorker has access to the resources and mental health services they need to lead stable, healthy lives," Cuomo said. "As we continue to bolster prevention efforts in communities across the state, especially among high-risk groups, these recommendations will help increase awareness and strengthen the safety net to protect anyone who needs help."

In 2017, Cuomo signed legislation requiring that the unique needs of all demographic groups and populations, including a special focus on Latina adolescents, veterans and the LGBTQ community, be taken into consideration when developing suicide prevention plans, programs and services, the release said.