New hotline is latest tool in suicide prevention

Jul. 31—With the nationwide suicide prevention hotline number 988 becoming available earlier this month, people have more mental health avenues to travel if they are struggling.

The most important path to good mental health, according to local officials, is through open communication.

Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett said that it is important to pay attention to what bothers others and how that is perceived.

"What we have to realize is what we may think is not as important of an issue, somebody else might think it's extremely important," Puett said. "Those issues could be extremely important or affecting an individual a lot more and we need to understand."

Puett said stopping spiraling mental health starts with early intervention through communication.

"Communication is really important," Puett said. "You want to realize that when people are starting to have difficulties, that's usually the time to start trying to provide help and resources instead of waiting until it becomes a huge issue."

Jen Gentry, the community behavioral health liaison team director at the Family Guidance Center, said her agency provides options for people fighting mental health issues. One of these is their mobile crisis team.

"Our mobile crisis team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Gentry said. "We know everybody has crises at various times. It's not always Monday through Friday, 8 to 5. We want to make sure that those people are available to be able to come out in the community and provide that support on site."

The Family Guidance Center offers assistance including navigating trauma, substance usage counseling, psychiatric services and developing healthy coping skills.

Puett and Gentry said there are warning signs and stressors that people can look for if they are concerned about a loved one.

"If there is significant changes in someone's life ... a loss, divorce or a change of job, problems at school and concerns about children (they) could be suffering some crisis," Puett said.

Gentry said not everyone suffering a mental health crisis will act the same.

"Oftentimes what we see in individuals who are struggling is just a change in what's normal for them. That can look different for everyone," Gentry said. "We'll see that people will start to isolate themselves, distance themselves from people they use to socialize with or from activities that they used to get a lot of joy out of."

Gentry said that in the St. Joseph area, there is no specific demographic that has suicidal thoughts or mental health struggles more than others. However, there are more cases rising in the 15 to 25-year-old age group. Although there isn't one issue that is causing the rise, one of the contributing factors might be technology and social media use.

"I definitely think that social media has played a significant role in just making information more accessible and communication more accessible," Gentry said. "I don't mean that in a positive way — using apps where here's a lot of bullying happening. It may be happening when it becomes unknown to parents, teachers, administrators. We certainly have seen that have a huge impact on young people."

Gentry said that there is synergy with many local groups that help further their mission, including hospitals, behavioral health providers, schools and law enforcement.

She also said that starting to communicate and having open conversations early helps.

"Struggles are normal and everybody experiences struggles from time to time," Gentry said. "We all kind of function on this spectrum of wellness and are at varying places, depending on any given day."

The Family Guidance Center is available for help at 816-364-1501.

Riley Funk can be reached at riley.funk@newspressnow.com.