By Suicide was the second leading cause of death for ages 10 to 34 in the United States in 2019, according to data from the CDC.
In fact, for that age range, suicide has been a top cause of death from 1999 to 2019.
This data might be disheartening but there are countless options to help reduce the risk of suicide and increase suicide awareness.
“Recovery is not one size fits all, recovery is different for everyone,” said Jolissa Hebard, Director of Outreach for Long Beach’s National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI).
On-campus, students are able to get help through Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), Project OCEAN (On-Campus Emergency Assistance Network), Trauma Recovery Center, and the Beach Crisis Text-Line.
CAPS provides crisis intervention, short-term counseling, group counseling, and referrals for long-term counseling. Counseling is available for anyone, including those who experience depression, grief, anxiety, or trauma.
Project OCEAN works to educate the campus on suicide prevention, promote mental health awareness and stigma reduction. They also help increase help-seeking behavior, according to their website.
Immediate care for CSULB students, staff, or faculty that are in crisis may use the new Beach Crisis Text-Line by texting “BEACH” to 741-741. There are counselors available 24/7 and all information discussed is kept confidential.
For local in-person care, the Long Beach Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center (BHUCC) has 24-hour psychiatric care for adults and adolescents. BHUCC also has a Crisis Walk-In Center open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to be evaluated or receive mediation.
Hebard believes that the first step to recovery is talking about it with a support system.
“People that are suicidal, they don’t want to die. They just don’t want to hurt anymore and they don’t know how to not make it hurt anymore,” Hebard said. “A lot of times those signs and clues are super subtle because of the stigma. [Suicide] is there, we have to talk about it, talking about it takes the power of it.”
For those who can’t afford counseling, there are low-cost and sliding scale options available at places like the LGBT Center Long Beach, Open Path Collective, and BetterHelp, along with many resources listed on the City of Long Beach’s website. CSULB students may also use CAPS for long-term counseling referrals.
For those that would like to support their community in preventing suicide, NAMI provides education courses in mental health first aid and a Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) course. Both are certificate courses and are free to take through NAMI of Long Beach. The next QPR course starts in November.
There are many options for those in need of assistance regarding suicidal thoughts, and there are also many opportunities to become more aware of suicide prevention.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story ran incorrect information on the second graph and was an editorial mistake.
