National Suicide Prevention Week

This week is National Suicide Prevention Week. To Write Love on Her Arms is doing a lot of things this week to bring awareness to the cause. Tomorrow is World Suicide Prevention Day so wear orange to show your support.

Here are some facts from The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention from 2010:

• In 2010, 38,634 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans. In that year, someone in the country died by suicide every 13.7 minutes.
• In 2010, the highest suicide rate (18.6) was among people 45 to 64 years old. The second highest rate (17.6) occurred in those 85 years and older. Younger groups have had consistently lower suicide rates than middle-ages and older adults. In 2010, adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24 had a suicide rate of 10.5.
• In 2010, 464,995 people visited a hospital for injuries due to self-harm behavior, suggesting that approximately 12 people harm themselves (not necessarily intending to take their lives) for every reported death by suicide. Together, those harming themselves made an estimated total of more than 650,000 hospital visits related to injuries sustained in one or more separate incidents of self-harm behavior.

Suicide is a serious issue that people tend to shy away from talking about. It's also something that people associate with teenagers, but adults struggle with suicidal thoughts too. If you know someone you think is having thoughts/tendencies towards suicide, check out this page.

If you are contemplating suicide or having any type of suicidal thoughts please check out this page.

And always remember: