A state council has updated New Hampshire’s plan to increase awareness of suicide as a public health problem and to guide suicide prevention programs.
Since the initial plan was released in 2004, the state has trained 5,000 people in suicide prevention and worked with the National Guard and veterans groups to address military suicide. But officials with the state’s Suicide Prevention Council say suicide remains the second leading cause of death, after accidental injury, among New Hampshire youth and young adults.
The updated plan includes goals ranging from reducing the stigma associated with obtaining mental health services to increasing the number or organizations and institutions that routinely collect and analyze reports on suicide attempts and deaths.