24 HOUR CRISIS LINE (316) 660-7500
24-hour Suicide Prevention
If
you or someone you know is talking about
SUICIDE
please call
Suicide Prevention Services - 24
hours / 7 days per week
(316) 660-7500
Crisis Intervention Services (CIS) has been the suicide prevention service for many years in Sedgwick County. At CIS, priority is given to assessment of and intervention with callers who are at risk for suicide.
News and Events
Mental Illness Awareness Week
October 3 - 9, 2010, is Mental Illness Awareness Week and COMCARE of Sedgwick County encourages residents to remember mental illness does not discriminate. No one is immune. Approximately 60 million Americans or one in five of us experience mental health problems in any given year.
Real recovery from mental illness requires community action, understanding and teamwork. Recovery is possible because of improved science, better community supports and reduced stigma.
If you see cause for concern, discuss the symptoms with your doctor or a mental health professional. Early identification often is the key to recovery.
Survivors of Suicide Day - November 20
Every 16 minutes someone in the United States dies of suicide; every 17 minutes someone is left to make sense of it.
Thousands of survivors of suicide loss will gather together around the world on November 20, 2010 for a day of healing, support and empowerment.
If you have lost someone in your life to suicide, please join us at 9:30 a.m. at Via Christi Hospital McNamara Center, 3600 E. Harry, third floor in Wichita.
Click here for more information.
Suicide is Everybody's Business
One out of every five Kansans who dies from suicide is from
Sedgwick County. Each year, there are more suicides in our community than
homicides, yet no one speaks of the 16-year-old boy who couldn’t handle another
day of being bullied at school, or the 87-year-old grandmother who suffered from
hopelessness and desperation and how they both ended their lives. Conversations
about suicide do not happen openly because it’s uncomfortable, and many of us
just don’t understand it.
Society used to hide chemical dependency, domestic violence, smoking and drunken
driving, but in the past 20 years these issues have been brought into the public
spotlight for scrutiny, often leading to solutions. But many say mental illness
and suicide remain behind closed doors, and will, until we start talking about
it.
Click here to read about suicide warning signs and what you can do to prevent suicide.
Understanding Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar Disorder is a more difficult mental illness to diagnose without the help of a professional. It often is mistaken for general moodiness. But the mood episodes associated with bipolar disorder are much more intense emotional states and changes. Read more about this misunderstood disorder and how you can help a loved one who may be struggling with it.
Economy Prompts More Calls to Suicide Hotlines
Marilyn Elias of USA Today attributes the upswing in number of Americans who are calling suicide hotlines to the downturn in the economy. Read Marilyn Elias's entire article "Economy prompts more calls to suicide hotlines".
The Economy and Suicide
The current world economic crisis has led to increased media and personal interest in the relationship between the economy and suicide.
Report Finds Rise in Suicide Among White, Middle-Aged Americans
Middle-aged white Americans are an emerging high-risk group for potential suicide, according to a study published in the December American Journal of Preventive Medicine [35(6):589-593]. Before 1999, white middle-aged men were the least likely to kill themselves. However, for the period from 1999 to 2005, the rate for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans declined or stayed stable even as middle-aged whites experienced a significant increase in suicides. The total number of suicides in the United States between 1986 and 1999 decreased by 1.2% each year, but in 2000, this trend reversed. From that year through 2005, the rate of suicide among whites ages 40 to 64 increased about 3% from year to year, with white middle-aged women experiencing the largest annual increase. The researchers also conducted a detailed analysis of suicide methods across specific population groups. While firearms remain the predominant method, the rate of firearm suicides decreased during the study period. Suicide by hanging or suffocation increased markedly with a 6.3% annual increase among men and a 2.3% annual increase among women. Hanging/suffocation accounted for 22% of all suicides by 2005, surpassing poisoning at 18%. The study recommends development of prevention programs for people in their middle years and preventive attention to the notable increases in suicide by hanging/suffocation in men and by poisoning in women.
Mental Health Parity Becomes Law
Mental health advocates marked 2008 as a year in which they helped win passage of a landmark law to bring mental health parity protection to more than 100 million Americans covered by group health insurance. Passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act owes much to a relentless battle waged in order to educate lawmakers, win their support for comprehensive parity legislation, and persuade them to make parity’s enactment a vital priority. Also achieved was another critical victory toward ending all discrimination against people with mental health needs: Legislation phasing out the inequitable 50 percent co-pay requirement on outpatient mental health care under the Medicare program. Supporters believe these longstanding discriminatory practices have helped keep stigma alive. With each legislative victory over discrimination it comes closer to the day that all people view mental health conditions no differently than any other health condition.
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