Suicide is now the second leading cause of death between the ages of 10 and 24. Hope Squad -- a national suicide intervention program -- gives students the tools to recognize those in need and get them help. 

. GEORGE — Efforts to help prevent suicide, particularly among teenagers and young adults, have been attracting the attention and support of Utah lawmakers during the 2018 legislative session.

Among the measures introduced is House Bill 41, also known as “Hannah’s Bill,” named for 16-year-old Huntsville resident Hannah Warburton, who died by suicide in 2014. According to family members, the teen, who had suffered from concussions, had tried to call a therapist for help in a moment of crisis, but her call wasn’t answered. Shortly thereafter, she was dead.

In order to ensure such pleas for help don’t go unheeded, Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley, and Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, have teamed up to co-sponsor the bill, which provides for a statewide crisis line to be staffed by qualified mental health counselors 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“This bill takes the roughly 20-something 24-hour crisis line numbers from around the state of Utah and consolidates all of our crisis intervention services to a single location,” Thatcher said as he introduced the measure on the Senate floor Feb. 20.

 Mental illness impacts 1 in 5 adults in the U.S., with the onset of 50 percent of lifelong mental illness cases happening between the ages of 10 and 14. 

 NAMI SUPORTS HOPE SQUAD

SHARONVILLE – Jennifer Wright-Berryman looked over a room packed with Southwest Ohio teenagers sharing stories about the tough business of personifying hope in high school.

“Have people made fun of you for being on Hope Squad?” Wright-Berryman asked, and a wave of assent rolled arose. She nodded. “You are like firefighters. You are first responders. You are responding to all the fires we have to put out.”

More than 450 middle and high school students across Southwest Ohio got excused from class Monday to attend the first Ohio Hope Squad Conference at the Sharonville Convention Center. The students and their advisors have formed the region’s first Hope Squads – groups of peers trained to listen to classmates suffering disappointment, crisis, mental health problems or suicidal thoughts.

Hope Squad is a national movement to address the youth-suicide epidemic by countering the notion that teenagers don’t have the maturity to handle heavy emotions.

In Ohio, suicide is the second-leading cause of death among teenagers, and adults are wrong to think young people shouldn’t talk about suicide, said Wright-Berryman, a suicide expert in the School of Social Work at the University of Cincinnati. She also is the national research director for Hope Squad.

“These kids know just how bad the problem is,” she said. “They know better than most adults do.”

Hope Squad moved into Southwest Ohio thanks to Diane Egbers of Cincinnati, whose 15-year-old son Grant died of suicide in 2015. She said Monday she wanted her foundation, Grant Us Hope, to give teenagers tools and language to help each other.

 CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Diane Egbers lost her 15-year-old son, Grant, to suicide in 2015. While working through her grief, Diane recognized a disconnect when it came to teen mental health care and vowed to do something about it. She's been instrumental with creating Grant Us Hope. The organization is working with local schools implementing suicide prevention and mental wellness programs this fall at local schools. She and Doctor Keith Kline, executive director of Grant Us Hope and former superintendent of West Clermont Schools talk about this program.