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Children between the ages of five and 12 years old are dying by suicide at twice the rate of their white peers. In 2019, those words stole our breaths. 

At National CARES, we have long been working to instill wellness and healing in the lives of our children struggling with the life-shredding impacts of centuries-long poverty, and to support the adults who surround them—but this? We knew then that we had to do much more.

We went into action immediately. We commissioned a study on the little-reported tragedy of child suicide. It was conducted by Dr. Cheryl Grills and a team of her colleagues at the National Association of Psychologists Read Here. 

We recalibrated our curriculum, expanded our professional development and wellness work with CARES Affiliate Leaders, our psychologists, and volunteer mentors. We gathered young people from several U.S. cities and with Executive Director of the National Justice Coalition David J. Johns, headed to Capitol Hill so that memorable day, October 15, 2019, members of the Congressional Caucus could hear firsthand testimony of young people who had attempted suicide had been living through. 

And then the pandemic upended the world. For our children, already living with the competing pandemics of racism, concretized poverty and so many more intergenerational harms, their pain had deepened these past two years. Fully, 25 percent of the children who lost parents to the coronavirus were children. But publicly positioned as predatory and pathological, children’s needs and profound pain are often disregarded. 

Late last year The New York Times reported that deaths by suicide had risen 47 percent for our boys and 59 percent for our girls. But perhaps most astounding to us was the data that is now beginning to emerge as researchers have begun disaggregating such by time periods and age. Many began reporting that between 2001 and 2017 rates of suicide increased by an incomprehensible 182 percent among African American girls.

Across our communities, virtually, as the pandemic required, and when possible and safe, in person, we began having critically needed discussions that have been long silenced by the specific shame and stigma that stifles our air–even in the very spaces where we might otherwise breathe freely. Our children should feel safe in our schools—their largest mental health provider—in faith institutions and in their homes, to speak their truth and name their pain. But it is critical that the adults who surround them have the necessary tools to create safety that has not always been available. Access to healthcare is one of the greatest challenges we face, and only four percent of psychologists. We don't even have a culturally specific mental health hotline at which every provider has been trained to understand the specific and historic pain our community has known and lives with–and is now watching our children die from. 

But all these life-saving interventions can be realized if we work together as a community and place our children’s lives and holistic wellness at the center of our decisions. Suicide is most often an extreme response to a temporary situation, and it is often driven by depression. Depression, when treated, can be a manageable mental health condition. Between 80 and 90 percent of people who are treated for depression are helped. 

Our community must mobilize, placing our children at the center of the holistic restorative strategies our community-caring and trusted organizations must build together. Right now, this very second, here are four things we can all do to become first responders in a public health crisis that we must end for the love of our children:

1) Believe young people

• Suicidal ideation is not something necessarily young people grow out of and often they will tell us if not directly, that they do not want to live. Take it seriously.

2) Observe changes in behavior including:

• Withdrawal from usual activities and self-isolation
• Change / increase in the use of alcohol and other drugs

3) Listen for repeated references to feelings of hopelessness and deep sadness–which are sometimes expressed as anger. Listen especially for references to ongoing conflicts, bullying or harsh life-circumstances. 

4) Ask for help. Schools should have resources that can serve as at least a beginning of mental health support. Be bold in insisting on it. Our faith institutions should have resources as well. If you or those you know are currently in crisis and need immediate help, stop right now and call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255.

We Must Act Now!

SOURCES

New York Times  (rising rates; decline in other groups' rates)

New York Times (Girls deaths are highest)

New York Times (rates up 182 percent for girls between 2001 and 2017)

Journal of Studies and Scientific American (racism and suicide)

PBS / WHYY  (what drives suicide)