Suicide Awareness Walk provides funds for training at local schools

Members of the AEA mental health team

According to the American Association of Suicidology, suicide ranked as the third leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 24. While suicides accounted for 1.4 percent of all deaths in the U.S. annually, they comprised 12.2 percent of all deaths among 15-24-year-olds.
 
The 2nd Annual Step Up and Reach Out Suicide Awareness Walk in Decorah in October gave individuals and families an opportunity to remember those lost to suicide and offer encouragement to those who are struggling with suicidal thoughts.
 
Money raised by the event now has been used to purchase the Lifelines Suicide Prevention Program, and to present the program to all school districts in the Keystone Area Education Area.  The full curriculum and training were given to area school districts at no cost to the school districts.  The complete Lifelines program is based on over 20 years of suicide-in-youth research that indicates an informed community can help to reduce suicide rates.
 
Personnel from area schools have just completed the training in the curriculum.