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OK to not be OK: Suicide Prevention Awareness Month offers reminder to check in

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“How are you doing?”

It’s a simple question, but when the issue is someone’s mental health, Nicholas Orlando called it, “The greatest thing someone can do.”

“The trick is to create space that someone feels safe in,” said Orlando, a licensed professional counselor practicing in Waynesburg. “It goes further if they know there is someone who loves and cares about them.”

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, with Saturday being World Suicide Prevention Day. For Orlando, a major part of spreading awareness is making sure people know that having conversations about mental health is important and necessary.

“You don’t ignore it, and you don’t avoid the topic … One of the biggest misconceptions about mental health is if you talk about mental health, people will become unwell, that you are going to play into a stigma, and that’s not true,” Orlando said. “We need to talk about it.”

Wherever you live, it is likely your community has resources available if you are depressed or having suicidal ideation, or know someone else who may be struggling.

In Washington County, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which is within the larger human services department, can connect residents with a range of resources.

“We offer both children and adult mental health services. Ranging anywhere from in-home services, residential placements, outpatient therapy, medication management. Most importantly, we do have a 24/7 crisis intervention line,” said Jennifer Scott, the department’s administrator.

Earlier this year, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline changed from an 800 number to a more simple, three-digit number – 988.

Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, however, Scott says the need for mental health services has risen sharply in Washington County.

“We have seen a fairly significant increase, to the point we are starting to have wait lists for services,” Scott said. “The numbers have gotten so high, our current services are not able to meet them.”

Part of the reason for that was the isolation, according to Scott.

“It led to some people being depressed because they did not have the social interactions. Sometimes those things that can be identified in schools are missed,” Scott said.

Orlando stressed that it is not necessarily the case that the pandemic created mental health issues, but rather made people more aware of those problems.

“A lot more people kind of had to be with themselves,” Orlando said. “A lot of us had mental health experiences that weren’t addressed because of how busy we were. Certain stressors were considered normal. When they return to ‘normal’ life after the shutdown, what ended up happening was they got a taste of that stress again and said, ‘Oh, that’s not normal.'”

Scott also said the transition back to relative normalcy has been difficult for both children and adults.

“There are some people who legitimately are afraid to get back into the workforce. It definitely impacted all ages,” Scott said.

Fayette County has seen a similar rise in people seeking mental health services. Regina Donkers, a behavioral health program specialist for the county, said part of the issue has been filling necessary positions, and losing people due to retirement or career changes.

Donkers pointed out that part of the increase stems from people being more comfortable discussing their mental health.

“It’s not just professionals talking about mental health. Our young people, they are really on the ball talking about their mental health and realizing, ‘I can’t deal with this,'” Donkers said.

Brean Fuller, the director of Greene County’s mental health program, said they have also seen an increase in people seeking help, and while they have also been affected by workforce shortages, it has not been to the degree of other communities.

“If you speak about Greene County specifically, we’ve been able to manage,” Fuller said.

Orlando’s Waynesburg practice is Orlando Counseling Services. It is located on East High Street as part of a therapy co-op called Therapeutic Healing Services, which houses four other practices.

According to Orlando, how we talk about mental health and our willingness to do so greatly affects those who may need help.

Someone who is trying to express their mental health issues may do so in subtle ways, such as with a comment like, “I wish something right would go in my life.”

Orlando says sometimes these windows to intervene can be small.

“That could be the thing. We miss the opportunity to say, ‘Do you want to talk about that?'” Orlando said. “Then, they’re in a good spot. They, ‘went back to normal.’ Now that person is not verbalizing it. They will not tell it. When someone commits suicide, it can be out of the blue. That’s the reason why we want to capture those moments and say, ‘I am here for you, and I’m willing to listen to this. I’m OK talking about something hard. I love you.'”

What is not helpful, Orlando added, is the “suck it up” attitude.

“I think that is generational. I think there are some cultural factors to that as well … This person has finally come to someone, and they hear, ‘Suck it up.'” That is an attitude and a belief about how we handle things that needs to stop,” Orlando said.

Even with that cultural barrier, Orlando praised the work Greene County has done with mental health services and the willingness of community leaders to talk about these issues.

Fuller said that in her five years working for the county, she has made breaking down that stigma a priority and feels they have made progress.

“Typically when someone thinks about a mental illness, we want to flip their thoughts to thinking about their own mental wellness … If they’re seeing signs of depressions in themselves or anxiety, there are services out there that can help them with that. There is no shame in it,” Fuller said.

Part of their efforts have been through forming Team Hope, which was started when Fuller was approached by three parents who lost children to suicide and felt that something needed to be done in Greene County.

Fuller said Team Hope has been running for a couple of months, and that they meet monthly.

“In just our short time together, we have a number of awareness events going on in our local school districts, at the (Waynesburg) university, at local sporting events. We’ve put signs and banners throughout the community,” Fuller said.

One of the parents who helped start Team Hope was Anita Mullen, a pre-K teacher in the Jefferson Morgan School District. At 2 p.m. Sept. 17, there will be a ‘Walk for Mullen” in Mather, in honor of Mullen’s son.

“She has really taken something that is a tragic event for any family to go through, and really brought so much hope and love to the community,” Fuller said.

Washington County also has upcoming suicide awareness events. Oct. 2 will be the Walk to Fight Suicide at Wild Things Park. According to Scott, about 200 walkers have already registered. This is the first year for the event.

“The money goes back into services and education in mental health,” Scott said.

According to Donkers, a vigil will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 22 in front of the Fayette County Courthouse. The vigil will be not only for victims of suicide, but for their surviving families and those who have attempted suicide.

“When there is a death of a person by suicide, that death affects at least six other people,” Donkers said. “It’s not just affecting that one person or family. There are others it is affecting throughout the community.”

In addition to the national hotline, Washington, Greene and Fayette County have local numbers that residents can call if they are in crisis.

In Washington, that number is 724-225-3584. There is also a text-only hotline at 724-715-3584. A line specifically for veterans is available at 1-800-273-8255.

Greene residents can call 1-800-417-9460, or text #63288. The local number in Fayette is 724-437-1003.

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