Help is hard to get. Especially for kids.
But for suicidal youths in La Plata County, help is a little easier to access thanks to the Second Wind Fund of Four Corners Colorado, an organization offering low-income youths free counseling.
The nonprofit works exclusively with youths 19 years old and younger who are un- or underinsured and at risk of suicide.
“We serve about 15 to 17 kids a year,” said Leslie Smith, the group’s coordinator. “But every year, the number of kids needing help increases. We can get a kid up to 20 sessions of free counseling.”
Because a roster of nine local therapists are willing to work at steeply discounted rates, each counseling session costs Second Wind $50 an hour.
“Many kids go to Axis, but a lot of kids don’t qualify to be seen because they don’t have insurance, or their parents make a little too much money,” Smith said. “If it weren’t for us, a lot of kids wouldn’t have mental-health services.”
Second Wind is throwing its second annual fundraiser Friday at the Durango Arts Center.
While teen suicide is an intense and depressing topic, Smith said the event won’t be suicide-themed.
“We’re trying to keep it lighter,” she said. “Hello Dollface is playing, so is David Stickler of the Salt Fire Circus – he does aerial fabric stuff. It’s super cool.”
Tickets cost $30, or $50 for two. There will be a silent auction and a live auction.
According to Alan Henry, principal of Big Picture High School and Second Wind Fund board member, the money couldn’t be going to a more worthwhile local cause.
He said Second Wind operates on the premise that kids who are harming themselves or contemplating suicide need help quickly.
The problem of suicide in La Plata County is all too real.
“I’ve thought about it. But I have no idea why people in Southwest Colorado disproportionately see suicide as a solution to the problems that they’re facing. I don’t even really have a good theory,” Henry said.
Coloradans kill themselves much more frequently than their fellow Americans. In 2010, the most recent year U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data is available, 38,000 Americans died by suicide, a rate of 12 per 100,000.
In 2012, 1,053 Coloradans took their lives – a rate of 20 per 100,000, nearly double the national average.
In La Plata County, the situation is even worse: At 30 suicide deaths per 100,000, it’s getting closer to tripling the national average.
Every year, Henry sees kids in crisis. Drug use, depression, cutting, eating disorders and suicide attempts – among other things – signal to adults a kid is psychologically in peril.
“They’re emotionally dis-regulated, out of control and looking for something. It’s not too simplistic to say that it’s a cry for help. The important thing is that they receive services quickly,” he said.
But Henry said suicidal thinking is a medical emergency, and he believes preventive care saves lives.
“Once a student is identified, we refer them to services in time. My experience is that once kids are getting help, they tend not to complete suicide,” he said.
Smith said since Second Wind started in the Four Corners in 2009, “We’ve gotten more than 70 referrals of kids in the community who are suicidal. We haven’t lost a single one to suicide. That says a lot about the importance of our work.”
At the fundraiser, she said she would love to raise “anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000 – that would be amazing. But we’ll take more!”
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
If you go
Second Wind Chimes: A fundraiser for the Second Wind Fund of Four Corners Colorado, 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave. Live auction of original wind chimes and live performances by Hello Dollface and David Stickler of Salt Fire Circus. Tickets $30 each, or two for $50. Purchase tickets at the Arts Center, by calling 946-9586 or email lesliensmith@gmail.com.
