Suicides by young people in Oregon hit a peak in 2018, with 129 deaths. And while the overall numbers have dropped a bit in the years since, the rate of youth suicide remains high when compared with the rest of the country. And there's another note: youth suicides by white people are dropping, while deaths by people of other ethnicities are on the rise.
The runs several programs and approaches to track and prevent suicides by young people, with increasing attention to non-white groups. Ebony Clarke, OHA Behavioral Health Director, and Lupe Crume, Lead Prevention Coordinator at Klamath Tribal Health And Family Services, join the JX with numbers, causes, and details of intervention and prevention programs.