This month is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and it’s a way to learn more about suicide and how to prevent these tragic events from occurring.

National Alliance on Mental Illness of Central Iowa Executive Director Angela Tharp says 90-percent of people that die by suicide have experienced a form of a mental health condition, and 46-percent of those individuals had a diagnosed mental health condition. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that there is a negative stigma behind suicide due to people not being educated on the topic and ignoring these individuals.

“We don’t always have a real clear answer as to why it happened, and a lot of people question, ‘Could I have done something?’ And really it comes in the awareness and prevention strategies on knowing mental illness.”

Tharp says some of the risk factors for mental illness that can lead to suicidal thoughts or actions include the person being sad or withdrawn for more than two weeks, along with self-harm, out of control behavior or risk-taking situations, significant weight loss or gain, feelings of fear for no apparent reason, excessive use of alcohol or drugs, and self-isolation. Tharp points out making sure firearms are secured as a way to reduce the risk of someone dying by suicide.

“Suicide is an impulse decision, and if they know where they could go to access firearms, in that impulse they are going to try and do it.”

Tharp says NAMI has lots of resources available for those needing to know who to contact or how to better understand mental illness or suicide. You can contact NAMI at 515-292-9400, via email at info@namicentraliowa.org, or by clicking here. To hear more from Tharp, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.