"Mental Health Starts at Home" Be Willing to Communicate More




The global pandemic is putting a strain on Americans’ mental health. There’s been a surge of calls to crisis lines in the past two months. Add a spike in gun sales to that , and experts say we may be at risk of a suicide epidemic.

Tiny Montpelier, Idaho, may already be taking the brunt of pandemic fallout. In that town of just 2,500 and the surrounding Bear Lake Valley — a picturesque, remote corner of the state known for its namesake turquoise lake — there were five suicides in a three-week span of April. Another two deaths are being investigated.

* * * * *

“We know historically, when you look at times of great socioeconomic distress and times of significant increases in unemployment, that these have been associated with anywhere from 25 to 50 percent increases in suicide,” he said.

Back in Montpelier, Chad Walker says . . . suicide prevention starts at home.

“Know the warning signs for yourself and for your children,” he said. “And just be willing to communicate more.”

With no end in sight to the pandemic fallout, education and communication might be more important than ever.

Resources if you or someone you know is considering suicide:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 or https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Options For Deaf + Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889
en español: 1-888-628-9454
Veterans Crisis Line & Military Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255, Press 1
Crisis Text Line: 741-741
In emergency situations, call 911

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Read Posts Over The Last 30 Days

What is the Response of the Activists to the Increasing Failure to Appears As A Result of Simple Release Mechanisms Such as Person Bonds?

Image
What has been the Response of the Activists to the Increasing Numbers of Failures to Appear as a Result of the Simple Release Measures that they Push? There is a growing amount of data that now documents that the release measures pushed by the activists are damaging public safety.  In Texas, there is the Report of the Houston Police Officers Union that reviewed a weeks worth of data for the misdemeanor courts using almost all personal bonds and they found a failure to appear rate of over 75%.  To see more CLICK HERE .  Houston Court Watch complied two years worth of data using the same formulas and found an average failure to appear rate of over 83%.  To see more CLICK HERE . Over time other states and issued reports that confirm these shocking numbers.  The Cook County Illinois Clerk issued a report saying that the failures to appear for individuals released on simple release were over 70%.  The Yolo County District attorney appeared on a podcast saying th...
Read more

Right on Crime- Going rogue: How Radical, Reformist Prosecutors Are Endangering Public Safety

Image
  Going Rogue:  How Radical, Reformist Prosecutors Are Endangering Public Safety by Ross Jackson Despite decades of bipartisan criminal justice reform and declining national crime rates, several U.S. cities have experienced increases in crime under the leadership of rogue prosecutors who abuse their discretion by refusing to enforce laws they disagree with and instead pursue lenient charges against violent criminals. These district and county attorneys implement formal or informal non-prosecution policies that violate their sworn duties, under-mine the rule of law, and erode public trust in the justice system. Data from the FBI indicates that during the tenure of these prosecutors, occurrences of several major crimes, such as murder and aggravated assault, rose. The crime rates in cities like Austin, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis illustrate correlations between the implementation of reformist prosecutorial policies and some rises in violent and property crime (FBI, n.d.). Stat...
Read more

Bail is the Glue that Keeps Families Involved in the Criminal Justice System

Image
In the heated national debate over bail reform and cashless bail, one critical perspective is often overlooked: the real families left scrambling when a working parent is arrested for a minor offense. In a recent article, President of the Mississippi Bail Agents Association, Mike Morrison writes about the misrepresented and misunderstood role that bail bond agents play in ensuring families are kept together during the criminal justice process.  Across Mississippi and the rest of the country, arrests frequently happen late at night or on weekends—DUI, traffic violations, or other non-violent charges that do not involve hardened criminals. Without easy access to an effective pretrial release mechanism like a surety bail bond, the accused has the potential to remain in jail longer than necessary.  Cashless Bail Creates Delays and Keeps Families Apart This delayed and unnecessary incarceration is often overlooked and misunderstood. Many bail reform policies that have been supporte...
Read more

The Bail Post Episode No. 73- Let's Find Out What Is Iryna's Law With Guest Julie Henderson

Image
On August 22, 2025, Iryna Zarutska was killed at the East/West Boulevard station on the Lynx Blue Line, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who had fled her country because of the Russian invasion, was stabbed from behind three times while seated on the train.  She did everything right.  She and her family immigrated to the United States legally.  They had a sponsor.  She was attending college and was working at a pizza shop.  At the time of the stabbing she was traveling home after work. The entire event was captured on video.  Initially, the video was not seen by the public.  Then everything changed when the mayor of Charlotte thanked the press for not distributing the video.  Then the video was everywhere.   In response to this terrible event, the North Carolina legislature passed Iryna's Law.  It was signed by the Democrat Governor. Join us on this episode of The Bail Post as we discuss the events ...
Read more

Trying to Understand Bail Reform and Cashless Bail in the Age of Online Misinformation

Image
In today's digital landscape, identifying the truth about topics like bail reform and cashless bail can be challenging due to widespread disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda. In a recent article in AIA Surety's Insight newsletter their Vice President of Communications, Eric Granof, discusses how much of the information consumers digest comes from internet searches, particularly Google.  Someone asks a question and Google searches the web for the answer and aggregates the best results based on its algorithm.  The problem with this is that Google is not an expert on everything like people expect.  It is simply feeding up what its algorithm believes is the best answer rather than objective truth. As a result, users searching for the truth on any topic related to bail reform, cashless bail or bail bonds will encounter a curated collection of the viewpoints selected by algorithmic preferences, as opposed to what is the truth. How Activist Groups Influence Search Resu...
Read more

Stories by Topic:

Show more