Activists offer help, hope: But programs struggle to find funding and support

Suicide risk is usually underestimated, said John Hisgen, a Wisconsin health and physical activity consultant. "We tend to believe people will not go to that extreme to end their lives," he said

Hisgen and several teachers developed educational strategies that have become a national model. The program teaches students to acknowledge, care and tell an adult when a friend or peer is hurting emotionally.

Only in recent months has there been a renewed interest to address Utah's suicide problem.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff brought in an out-of-state organization last fall to provide awareness and education. The state Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health has made suicide prevention a higher priority, which reflects a new emphasis at the federal level.

"Suicide right now seems to be a hot topic," said Ron Stromberg, state mental health director.

Other than a resolution in 1999 that resulted in a youth suicide task force, state lawmakers have done little to address what the health department 10 years ago deemed an epidemic.

A bill in the 2006 Legislature calling for another task force died after unwieldy amendments were added to it.

Those who have worked on prevention and awareness the past decade or so say the time for talking is past.

"It's a waste of time to create another task force," Gray said. "We've talked enough. We need to do."

Yet there will be more talking.

The state Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health recently contracted with NAMI to coordinate and oversee a task force that will develop a statewide suicide prevention plan.

Despite his desire to do rather than talk, Gray will be part of it as will other longtime advocates for suicide awareness and intervention.

Wittwer says the group will not attempt to reinvent the wheel but use the knowledge it has gained over the years to progress.

"We have that in common. We are impatient, and we need to move on," she said. "We are all about implementation and moving on to focus on solutions."

Mental health division director Stromberg has $33,000 in federal grant money for the task force to work on a plan, but he's not sure if the state will have funds to put it into practice when the plan is completed early next year.

"Will there be money to do this? I don't know," he said.

Money has and will continue to be a hang up.

The Bryner Clinic in Salt Lake City received a private grant to screen children for mental health problems when they come in for checkups or with runny noses. Pediatricians work with psychiatrists and psychologists to assess a child's overall health.

Even though it's a team approach that works, Gray said, it won't last indefinitely. "The difficulty is if the grant runs out, the program disappears," he said.