Terraka Garner
Staff Writer
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students according to suicide.org, and Idaho has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. These suicides allegedly go unnoticed.
In 2012, the most recent year with data available, Idaho had the eighth highest suicide rate and in 2013 there were 308 completed suicides.
Idaho State University and associated contributors are trying to lower the suicide rate in Idaho and the odium toward suicide with a first year event, the ISU Campus Walk.
“You don’t want to be on that side of the spectrum. It’s just tragic because it’s preventable. I want to really broadcast the hope and to let people know that we care,” said Jeni Summers, chair for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, or AFSP. “I want to erase the stigma. It shouldn’t be a bad word to say, the word suicide.”
The ISU Campus Walk will be held Saturday, May 23. Anyone who would like to attend should meet in the Earl R. Pond Student Union Building Ballroom at 8 a.m.
Early registration is available at www.afsp.org by clicking on the link for Out of the Darkness walks or by searching Idaho State University Campus Walk. The website offers information such as understanding and preventing suicide, coping with suicide loss and research that has been done.
Prior to the walk, athletes from various ISU sports teams including football and basketball will be greeting and welcoming members.
The walk will start at 10 a.m. and the event will end at 3 p.m. There will be a live band playing at the end of the event which is free. Donations will be accepted.
“It’s an illness just like cancer. You don’t see it or hear about it. It’s not talked about. This foundation does raise money for research and over 85 percent of the money goes to [research],” said Summers. “The rest of the money benefits the walk but very little goes back into the walks. Over 50 percent of whatever we raise will go back into Idaho.”
This walk is part of the AFSP Out of the Darkness suicide prevention campaign.
The AFSP mission statement is “understanding and preventing suicide through research, education, and advocacy.” There are chapters around the nation for AFSP and Summers said she would like for there to be a chapter on this side of Idaho.
“We need to reduce the suicide rates and the way that we do that is by providing help and by letting people know that we care,” said Summers. “For this walk I want people to actually just show up even if they don’t know much. By people gathering together, that will be a huge strength of hope for people that are still fighting.”
ISU sophomore Kyla Wactor has reportedly struggled with thoughts of suicide in her past. She says she has become dependent on her antidepressants.
“If I even miss one day of my prescription, I can easily slip deep back into my depression to where I have a difficult time trying to go about my day. I begin to withdraw from friends, family and even my boyfriend, Cody. The depression really takes a huge toll on me,” said Wactor.
Wactor defines depression as “when a person feels all of the emotions at once.” She says depression affects tasks such as eating or getting out of bed, and believes that anyone struggling with depression needs someone to be there, listen, and hug or hold them so that they don’t feel alone.
“The answer why someone commits suicide I do not have. Each person has their own reasons as to why they choose to make that decision. I can say why I wanted to commit suicide when I was down that dark road. I felt as if no one could help me. I began to feel as though the end of my life was coming mentally so why not just end it physically too? I felt like that was the only way to ease the pain,” said Wactor. “I wasn’t thinking about the many friends and family that would be highly affected due to my selfish decision. I didn’t care what happened to me.”
The national suicide prevention lifeline number 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
