GOOD THINGS UTAH – September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and The Children’s Center of Utah want to provide mental health support for children. According to the Public Health Indicator Based Information System (IBIS) in 2020, suicide was the leading cause of death for Utahns ages 10 to 17.
Suicidality is not an uncommon referral for TCCU to receive despite their focus on ages 0-6
It is important for parents and caregivers to understand that even very young children can express wanting to kill themselves or a desire to die. This is often because children don’t understand the permanency of death and they may be modeling what they have heard from peers, family, media, etc. They may also simply be trying to express how big their emotions are and may lack more appropriate ways of doing so.
While very young children are less likely to follow through with suicide or have access to the tools to do so, it is still important for caregivers to respond to these big feelings their children are expressing
By acknowledging these big feelings and providing early intervention, we are able to build the child a future where they bypass this scenario altogether
Seek immediate mental health support if your child of any age expresses a desire to die Huntsman Mental Health Institute has a crisis line for crisis intervention which can be accessed by dialing 988; TCCU can provide mental health services for children six and younger.
