With September being National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, the UTRGV Counseling Center not only offers individual therapy but as well as specialized workshops and trainings.
Clinical Therapist at the Council Center Maria Alejandra Mazariegos said the center has therapists who are trained to teach Question, Persuade and Refer, also known as QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper trainings.
“So, what that means is typically these trainings take about two hours and it involves basically a suicide prevention 101 for participants,” Mazariegos said. “We offer it obviously free of charge to students, faculty, staff, as long as there are 10 people or more interested in a group.”
She said sessions are being held via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mazariegos said it is important to be aware of suicide because it is the second leading cause of death between the ages of 15 through 24 in the United States.
“So, really, that’s your traditional kind of like, you know, high school and undergrad college population,” she said. “And, so, in Texas, it’s also the second leading cause of death among that population.”
The center also offers the Vaquero Crisis Line, a 24/7 helpline for students going through an emotional crisis.
Professor in the Psychological Science Department and Clinical Psychologist Joseph Hovey says suicide is a stigmatized topic but there are ways around it such as education and talking about it.
“I think suicide prevention week, suicide prevention day, suicide prevention month, all of this brings attention to the issue, which is like the first step, which is education awareness and so forth,” Hovey said. “And the reason why it’s so important is that, you know, upwards of 30, 35% of people at some point in their lives really do think about … suicide.”
According to Hovey, one of the myths about suicide is if someone talks about it, it is going to make it “more likely” to happen.
“And in fact, the research is exactly the opposite, which is the one, that the more someone feels comfortable about talking about what they’re going through,” Hovey said. “It greatly reduces the chance for suicide, because part of what happens in when a suicidal is, they kind of have this cognitive tunnel vision where they feel like, you know, they’re kind of into their own thoughts. They tend to forget that there’s people out there for them.”
Hovey also said if someone feels as if a close family member might be going through a rough time, to let them know they are there for them.
“Quite often, just that simple step, would kind of open the door for someone not only to talk about it, but to think about what are some of the ways that I can cope that are out there for me and not really be looking at this in a really cognitively restricted way,” he said.
For the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, call 1-800-273-8255 or for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Crisis Text line, text TALK to 741741.
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