GRAND JUNCTION (AP) – It’s been 12½ years since Gretchen McGeeney lost her son, Landon, to suicide just a few weeks shy of his 22nd birthday.
Even now, there are still bad days, she said.
But a November gathering of survivors of loved ones who have died by suicide helps people connect with others no matter what stage of grief they happen to be in, McGeeney said.
“Most people are pretty private in what they’ve experienced,” said McGeeney, who works with Heartbeat, a support group to help people after the suicide of a loved one. “It’s a tough thing when grief is new. It takes so much courage to walk through those doors.”
Still, a couple dozen people who have been affected by the loss of someone to suicide did walk through the doors at the Saccomanno Education Center at St. Mary’s Medical Center, The Daily Sentinel reported . They attended a morning session of speakers, had a chance to talk with peers and participated in a candlelight vigil. People across Colorado and the world attended similar events in honor of International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day.
Mesa County is no stranger to high rates of suicide in recent years. In a two-year span between 2016 and 2017, 93 people died by suicide in Mesa County.
The number of county residents who died by suicide increased each year a few years before that – with 28 deaths in 2013; 35 in 2014; and 37 in 2015.
For nearly every death by suicide in Mesa County last year, there were nine suicide attempts that resulted in an emergency room visit, according to a report published by Mesa County Public Health.
After these especially heartbreaking years, the community placed a heightened awareness on suicide, making it a top health priority, said Jennifer Daniels, a suicide prevention coordinator at St. Mary’s.
Daniels said she’s seen the ebb and flow of suicide prevention awareness, but the latest push has gained the most long-standing momentum she’s witnessed in years.
“Usually after a year, it has lost momentum in the media,” she said. “But the community hasn’t lost the suicide prevention support. That part doesn’t feel like it’s winding down. It’s winding up.”
New suicide prevention positions were added at St. Mary’s, Mesa County School District 51 and Colorado Mesa University. In addition, more focus is being placed on mental health and community members more readily talk about suicide, helping to erase the stigma that’s often attached to it, Daniels said.
Even events like November’s annual meeting for survivors of loved ones to suicide helps in the healing process. Families and friends affected by suicide can be a force for speaking up about it and tuning into others’ needs to possibly help prevent others from suicide.
“This gives them a chance to break out in groups and share on a more personal level,” Daniels said. “This gives them a chance to listen.”
