Politics aside, juveniles and adults in El Paso County are dying from self-inflicted gunshot wounds far more than any other means of suicide.

This week’s “Safe Homes, Safer Families” workshops, a product of two Colorado College students and local suicide prevention groups, deliver the message that by storing guns more safely, more lives can be saved.

Hint: put firearms in a safe (new versions have biometric recognition or codes for quick access).

Buy a smaller lock box for pistols, pick up a free cable-style gun lock through Project Child Safe at police stations and sheriff’s offices, or at the very least, store ammunition separately from guns, attendees will learn at the workshops being presented Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday in Colorado Springs.

“As soon as people hear the word ‘firearm,’ they start to feel defensive,” said Cassandra Walton, executive director of Pikes Peak Suicide Prevention Partnership. “This isn’t about who does or who doesn’t have a firearm, but if you do, here’s how to store it safely so someone having a situational crisis can’t get ahold of it.”

“Safe Homes, Safer Families”

Three “Safe Homes, Safer Families” presentations are offered this week: 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at Magnum Shooting Center South, 2050 Southgate Road; 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday at Fountain Library, 230 S. Main St., Fountain; and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday at Magnum Shooting Center North, 13372 Meadowgrass Drive.

To register, scroll to the bottom of this website: https://spcollab.org.

People who attempt suicide are undergoing an “intense temporary problem,” often exacerbated by drug or alcohol use, Walton said. Limiting easy access to guns provides what she calls a “window of prevention.”

“The chances you are going to die are very high if you use firearms as a means,” she said. “Storing firearms safely creates a pause for that person to have an intervention occur, access resources and return to rational thought.”

Keeping guns in a safe place in a home or other location is just one proven strategy that can help avert suicide, according to local experts, who are getting the word out during September’s National Suicide Prevention Month and this week’s National Suicide Prevention Week.

“Connecting with one another, asking someone if they are considering suicide if you are concerned and safely storing firearms are all ways we can prevent deaths by suicide in our community,” said Fountain Police Chief Chris Heberer.

It’s absolutely OK to ask a distressed child or adult if they are thinking about hurting or killing themselves, said Clinical Psychologist Lauren Henry, who works at the Anschutz Medical Campus of Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora and consults with others in the network, including Children’s Hospital in Colorado Springs.

Having a conversation about what’s going on in someone’s life and what emotions they’re experiencing is the first step, she said.

“It is going to be our response as humans to jump in and want to fix it, but we first need to pause and truly listen and recognize that starting with empathy and understanding is a really important part of the stabilization process,” Henry said.

Then, she said, move into problem-solving: is the person going through an emotionally tough time that will dissipate, or a mental health crisis that needs immediate professional assistance?

Heberer and Walton co-chair the Suicide Prevention Collaborative of El Paso County, an alliance focused on decreasing suicides by 20% by 2024. They are among the many hands involved in the new workshop.

Three “Safe Homes, Safer Families” presentations are offered this week: 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at Magnum Shooting Center South, 2050 Southgate Road; 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday at Fountain Library, 230 S. Main St., Fountain; and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday at Magnum Shooting Center North, 13372 Meadowgrass Drive.

To register, scroll to the bottom of this website: https://spcollab.org.

The workshops are the culmination of a yearlong project of Colorado College students Maddi Schink and Fer Juarez Duran.

Both are seniors who will graduate in May, both say they have been personally touched by suicide and gun violence, and both want to make a difference.

The pair won a $10,000 Davis Project for Peace grant. The workshops are unusual, Schink said, in that they feature hands-on demonstrations of safes and other storage options for gun owners, including cable locks and lock boxes.

“The Second Amendment value is held pretty widely in El Paso County,” Schink said. “Responsible gun ownership is making sure people in crisis don’t have access to your firearms and also to prevent unauthorized users and accidents happening.”

The El Paso County Coroner’s Office autopsied 176 deaths by suicide in 2021, down slightly from 178 in 2020 and from 2019’s high of 180.

El Paso County, the Rocky Mountain region in general and the state all rank poorly in suicide rates, however, said Dr. Leon Kelly, county coroner and chief medical director.

“Which means that while we stayed relatively steady, that statistical plateau is not a place we want to be,” he said. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Of last year’s self-inflicted deaths, 63% of people used a gun. That’s up from 54% of all suicides using firearms in 2020. Last year’s statistic also is higher than the state average of 54% and the national average of 50%, according to the county coroner’s report.

“At this point in my career, I can’t even count the number of kids and young adults who were known by family and friends to be suicidal where no attempt to limit access to firearms or other lethal means was made, only to ultimately end up in our morgue,” Kelly said. “The role of family and friends is tragically underutilized in helping a struggling loved one willingly remove firearms from their life until they get the help they need.”

Most people who have attempted suicide and who live immediately afterward report feeling regret and the thought that they don’t really want to die, Walton said.

September is when Children’s Hospital Colorado sees a “significant increase” in adolescents seeking help for mental problems because of school starting back up, Henry said.

In September 2021, between 14 and 40 kids a day in a mental health crisis came to the system’s four emergency departments, according to provided statistics. And the first half of 2022 has brought a 7% increase in patients over last year.

School can be simultaneously helpful and harmful to children’s mental health, Henry said.

On one hand, school provides positive experiences such as academic and athletic success, peer interaction and contact with trusted adults — a protective factor for teens.

But school also can be a source of academic, social and emotional stress and anxiety, Henry said, which can lead to depression and dangerous behavior.

Adolescents also are showing higher severity of mental illness, Henry said, which “has weighed down on all our systems,” from children in intensive hospital treatment, to inpatient stays at centers to day treatment, and trickling down to the school level.

“It brings us to the importance of making sure that we recognize the need for mental health for our kids and of their learning how to build stress tolerance,” she said.

For assistance with suicide or mental health concerns of any age, call the Colorado Crisis and Support Line, 1-844-493-TALK (8255). Mental health professionals are available 24/7.

Call 988 on any phone to reach the new federal Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for immediate assistance with mental health needs. (Courtesy graphic)

Courtesy graphic