6 teen suicides in 6 months

6 teen suicides in 6 months
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Just recently, Hayden Porter, a 15-year-old freshman at a high school in Ohio, decided it was his time to leave this earth. He was the sixth current or former teenage student from the school district to kill themselves within the past six months. Three of the suicides occurred in a span of 11 days in January. When they got the police to investigate they had said they weren’t linked to each other. Chief Michael Pomesky said “over the past five days, his officers have responded to more than two dozen calls concerning potential suicides or requests for police to check on someone.” He said “the community of Perry Township, about an hour’s drive south of Cleveland, is in crisis.”

Porters mother suspected the suicide because of bullying. Her son, worried about what four boys might do to him, had to be picked up from school one day, she told the Cleveland station.

But she had no idea her son would kill himself. Which makes things like this so concerning. “Please tell somebody because he didn’t tell us. He didn’t speak. Maybe he was scared, I don’t know, but if something is going on, don’t be afraid to speak up,” Jones told WJW.
 The teens who took their life were between the age of 14 to 18 years old.

Almost one in five teenagers between 15 and 19 has considered suicide, and nearly 10% have attempted it, Among Americans between 10 and 24, suicide was the second-leading cause of death in 2015 and still is to this day. Some proven strategies for preventing suicide among youth include “strengthening access to and delivery of suicide care, creating protective environments, promoting youth connectedness, teaching coping and problem-solving skills, and identifying and supporting at risk youth.

I’ve been in the same spot in a time in my life where I felt everything was over and it was the only choice I thought I had. Being depressed and in that state of mind is so hard to get out of because one feels so hopeless, nothing can stop you because one is so focused on dying. Many young kids have died in my previous school from suicide and it is just heartbreaking especially for the families who lost their loved one. Suicide isn’t something someone just goes out and tells everyone that’s why it is so hard to see if someone is okay and needs help. I want to be able to help young kids to overcome this time in their life, it’s hard, but it’s never impossible.

These tragedies can be avoided.  Help is always there if you need it but too often people dont know where to turn. If you or someone you know is in a time of crisis reach out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrisisLink

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http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/16/health/ohio-suicide-cluster/index.html