Anti-suicide groups form

CHEYENNE (AP) -- Community coalitions are helping Wyoming health officials gather more information about the state's high suicide rate, in the hope that learning more about why people take their own lives will help prevent such acts in the future.

Wyoming held its first statewide Suicide Prevention Conference this year in Casper. Since that meeting in May, the number of local coalitions has grown from seven to 16, said Keith Hotle, suicide prevention specialist in the Wyoming Department of Health.

Those coalitions are helping make sure that suicides are accurately reported -- many believe the official statistics undercount the actual suicide rate. The coalitions also collect information, what's often called a "psychological autopsy," about people who commit suicide.

"People ask, 'Why is the suicide rate so high in Wyoming?' and I don't know that we have a clear-cut answer to that yet," Hotle said, noting recent studies have found Wyoming has one of the nation's highest suicide rates. "This will help us get there."

Last week, the state announced it had received a three-year, $1.2 million federal grant to help in the state's suicide prevention efforts. Part of that grant will be used to help develop community-based programs, such as one in Casper that trains teenagers to look for the signs that someone might be contemplating suicide, and what teens should do if those signs are observed.

"Kids listen to kids," said Jean Davies, a member of the Wyoming Suicide Prevention Task Force and an employee of the Wyoming Behavioral Institute in Casper. "So it really has brought more of a response from the kids they're presenting to."

The grant also will support suicide prevention programs aimed at American Indian youths. Teenage Indian boys and young Indian men have suicide rates between 1.5 times and 3 times higher than their counterparts in other ethnic groups, Hotle said.

Davies said part of the challenge is getting adults -- many of whom fear that talking about suicide might encourage some teens to take their own lives -- to acknowledge that it needs to be discussed.

"They feel like this is a topic they don't want to discuss," Davies said. "But what we've found is kids are already talking about it. It's the adults that are (afraid)."