BoroSAFE
(Hillsborough Suicide Awareness For Everyone) is a committee composed
of Hillsborough community members, including school staff and residents,
working together to provide suicide awareness and prevention resources
to Hillsborough and other local communities.
In 1999
the Center for Disease Control (CDC) declared suicide to be a public
health issue. This opened the door for education and more awareness
about suicide.
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2000 - Traumatic Loss Coalitions formed
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2001 - National Strategy for Suicide Prevention
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2003 - President Bush’s New Freedom Report on Mental Illness
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2005 - NJ Governor’s Council for Suicide Prevention established. Two-hour training requirement for teachers begins.
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2010 - NJ Youth Suicide Prevention State Plan
In 1999 suicide was the second
leading cause of death of adolescents between the ages of 15-24. After
bringing the issue to public awareness and establishing the Traumatic
Loss Coalitions, suicide dropped to the third leading cause of death for
this age group (it is the sixth leading cause of death for the 10-14
year old group). There is one completed suicide every 15 minutes in the
United States... 100 per day... and 34,000 a year. Just one is one too
many.
Talking about suicide is difficult, but it is necessary. We, at BoroSAFE,
encourage all parents to talk to your children about this issue. In
order to get you started, we have shared the following link to a short
video that will help you raise the questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BByqa7bhto
For additional information or questions please feel free to contact the HHS Crisis Psychologist, Dr. Patricia Colontino, at (908) 431-6600, Ext. 2534, or via email at [email protected].
The only thing scarier than talking about suicide is not talking about it.... and wishing you had.