Box Elder suicide walk a chance to remember lost loved ones
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- Attendees of the Northern Box Elder County Suicide Prevention Coalition’s annual suicide awareness memory walk are pictured on Friday, July 15, 2022.
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- Messages of love and encouragement are pictured on Friday, July 15, 2022, during the Northern Box Elder County Suicide Prevention Coalition’s annual suicide awareness memory walk.
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- Attendees of the Northern Box Elder County Suicide Prevention Coalition’s annual suicide awareness memory walk are pictured playing music on Friday, July 15, 2022.
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- Bear River Middle School students are pictured on Friday, July 15, 2022, during Northern Box Elder County Suicide Prevention Coalition’s annual suicide awareness memory walk. Pictured from left to right: Theo Stone, Taryn Adams and Cloey Barker.
OGDEN — Dozens came out Friday night for the Northern Box Elder County Suicide Prevention Coalition’s annual suicide awareness memory walk. Residents from Tremonton, Garland and surrounding areas joined each other at the Bear River High School track to remember loved ones now gone.
The coalition established the memory walk 12 years ago not only to provide support for those affected by suicide, but also to educate the public about suicide.
One of the first places the coalition set up a tabling event was inside Bear River High. Dorene Stever, Northern Box Elder County Suicide Prevention Coalition chair, said kids would go out of their way to avoid them.
Bear River Middle School counselor Arron Tesch said the school’s HOPE Squad is in place to help anyone struggling. Students who have been identified by classmates as trustworthy peers are voted in as squad members in the sixth grade.
According to the BRMS website, students are trained to watch for at-risk students, provide friendship, identify warning signs and seek help from adults.
HOPE4UTAH, a nonprofit educational organization specializing in suicide prevention, intervention and postvention, works with school advisors to train students through evidence-based training modules.
While Tesch said he believes the squad is a helpful resource, 14-year-old middle school student Theo Stone said they are not very helpful.
Fellow middle-schoolers Taryn Adams and Cloey Barker agree with Stone that it’s nice to have someone you do not know act as a sounding board in times of suicidal thoughts, but to them the Hope Squad is just that and nothing more.
Stone, who said he deals with his own struggles, said while those who volunteer to help by answering calls have good intentions, they can only sympathize.
“Unless you’re struggling with similar issues, you can’t understand it,” Stone said.
Since its inception in the late 1990s, more than 1,100 students were referred for help through HOPE4UTAH, which collaborates with schools, communities and mental health agencies.
Stever said the lack of mental health resources and absence of long-term care at area hospitals inspired her to get involved with the coalition.
According to Utah Public Health data from 2016 to 2020, Utah Small Areas, a designation used to analyze health statistics, have higher age-adjusted suicide rates compared to the rest of the state.
Stever wouldn’t speculate as to why, but she said there exists a certain mentality and stigma which the coalition works tirelessly to eliminate.
Stone, Adams and Barker, who lost a 13-year-old friend to suicide in January, sat amongst themselves, isolated from fellow attendees prior to the walk.
“I still think about him constantly,” Stone said. “He was one of my favorite people.”
School officials and others, Adams said, only pretend to care about suicide by hanging up posters and handing out bracelets during suicide prevention week.
She said everyone is sad when it happens, but as time passes people move on with their lives and forget — until it happens again.
Stever said while efforts to address mental health crisis have increased over the years, there is always room for improvement.
The most recent improvement to the mental health crisis care gap is the 988 national mental health hotline, which went live on Saturday.
The 988 hotline is replacing the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s 10-digit number. Callers will be connected to a trained counselor at a crisis center nearest them. If for any reason the call is not answered right away, the call will be transferred to one of 16 centers throughout the country.
Similar to 911 as used for emergencies, the 988 hotline is a simple three-digit number mental health experts hope will be easier, faster, safer and more effective.
