Connecticut finds itself in a midst of a mental health crisis. In the past two months, nine youth deaths by suicide have been reported in the state, compared to seven total in 2023.
With National Suicide Prevention Month approaching in September, Gov. Ned Lamont held a roundtable at The Village’s Urgent Crisis Center in Hartford this week with representatives of state agencies and children’s mental and behavioral health organizations to emphasize youth suicide prevention.
Dr. Sabrina Trocchi, president and CEO of Wheeler Health is aware of the growing crisis.
“Suicidal behavior is now the highest presenting issue,” she said. “Depression is the most frequent diagnosis that we are seeing and has been for several years.”
During a recent trip to Enfield High School, Lamont said they polled the students and asked, if they had $20,000, what would they say to the school board? Where they would want the money to go?
Lamont recalled one young man standing up and saying, “I wish we could have confidential counseling. I would like someone I could talk to. I got my friends and my parents but I wish that.”
Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, said through funding, the state has been able to expand school-based health centers, specifically to expand mental health services. According to Juthani, there are 59 new centers and 160 totals in schools around the state.
“For every child that comes in with a physical complaint … they also get screened for depression and anxiety,” she said. “What we’ve seen over the last academic year, there have been over 100,000 mental health visits in school-based health centers. That’s an increase of over 30,000 in one year.”
“We are helping kids where they are at,” she added. “Almost 5,800 kids have received mental health services because of it.”
Nationally, a CDC report stated that the suicide rate among people aged 10–24 remained stable from 2001 through 2007 and then increased 62% from 2007 through 2021. It equates to 6.8 deaths per 100,000 from 2001-2007 to 11.0 from 2007-2021.
The CDC study also reported the death by suicide rate tripled (0.9% to 2.9%) from 2007 through 2018 for ages 10-14. The rate did not change significantly through 2021, while the homicide rate doubled from 2016 through 2021.
For ages 15 through 19, the suicide rate increased from 2009 through 2017, and the homicide rate decreased from 2006 through 2013 but then increased through 2021, surpassing the suicide rate in 2020.
Another report from the CDC from earlier this month showed some troubling trends for teens.
“In 2023, 20% of all high school students seriously considered attempting suicide during the past year,” the report said. “Female students were more likely than male students to seriously consider attempting suicide. Asian students were less likely than students from most other racial and ethnic groups to seriously consider attempting suicide. LGBTQ+ students were more likely than cisgender and heterosexual students to seriously consider attempting suicide.”
The same report showed 16% of high school students made a suicide plan during the past year. Female students were more likely than male students to make a suicide plan in 2023.
Also 9% of high school students attempted suicide one or more times during the past year.
Ann Dagle, one of the speakers at the roundtable, gave a small window into the lasting effects on suicide to so many after losing her son Brian 13 years ago. She is president and executive director of the Brian Dagle Foundation, whose mission “is dedicated to the healing of grieving adults as well as community education on mental health and suicide awareness.”
“I lost Brian in 2011,” Dagle said. “This is now my passion. Brian is the reason. I am amongst the survivors. I’m in this club that no one wants to belong to. For every person who dies by suicide, there are at least 135 people who are affected by that. So multiply that by nine of the children that we have lost. That shows you how many of us survivors that are out there.”
Dagle also made a point that mental health should be treated the same as physical health.
“Our schools have taught our students the dangers of drug, alcohol, teen sex. Suicide and mental health are no different. We have to talk about it,” Dagle said, added that anyone who interacts with children should be aware of the warning signs.
“As Brian was getting ready to apply for colleges, we found people that were able to help him on his college essays,” Dagle said. “We had help with him getting his applications filled out correctly. We had had him take a class on his SATs so he could get the best scores possible. We knew we could help him. But what we didn’t know is that suicide is the second-leading cause of death for college students. Nobody told us that.
“We didn’t know the warning signs and in hindsight there were some warning signs. Our parents have a right to know. I often say, ‘If I knew then what I know now maybe he would be here today,” Dagle added.
“Suicides are 100 percent preventable, and no one needs to die of suicide,” said Dr. Steve Rogers, the medical director of Emergency Behavioral Health Services at Connecticut Children’s Hospital.
“We need to start talking. That’s what you have heard everyone say today. Not just to each other, but to our kids. We have a suicide screening program. We need to identify the risk before they have spoken about it and get the resources they need.”
Rogers said the hospital’s emergency department has screened over 75,000 youths and 18% came back at risk, which, he said, is on par with the national average.
Rogers pointed to a story of an 11-year-old girl who was deemed at risk. “The mother couldn’t believe it,” he said. “The mother asked the girl, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’”
Rogers recalled the young girl replying, “You never asked.”
“We need to normalize these discussions,” Rogers said. “Parents may not know what to do, but they can turn to a professional. … Together we can make this better.”
Tanya Barrett, senior vice president of 211 Connecticut’s Health and Human Services for the United Way of Connecticut, offered the reminder that calling 211 or 988 nationally can help someone in crisis or worried about someone in crisis.
“Someone is available 24/7, 365 days a year,” she said. “We are trained to do active listening and understanding crisis needs and to de-escalate. We can offer support and get you to community resources.”
In the 2024 fiscal year, Barrett said 211 has fielded 46,000 calls, which is up from 32% in 2023.
Trocchi added that there are six mobile crisis providers in Connecticut, with Wheeler being one of the largest. “We serve over 3,000 individuals on an annual basis,” Trocchi said. “Our service supports children and youth under 18 with an onsite crisis assessment.
“Our services are available to anyone in the state that anyone can access,” she added. “We are now available 24/7 which is an enhancement we made two years ago, and we respond to youth when they need us through 211.”
Trocchi said 40% of referrals come directly from the child and the service, youth or family member, and the services respond directly to the home. Also, 45% are coming directly from schools and the service goes directly to the school.
The process starts with a call into 211 and based on the information that is solicited, the mobile crisis team is deployed and will arrive in 45 minutes or sooner on site.
“I urge the community to make these calls earlier, so we are able to provide earlier interventions before a crisis,” Trocchi said.
“Every time a suicide crosses my desk I can’t believe it. It’s shocking,” said Connecticut Child Advocate Sarah Eagan. “We have work to do and the measure of success is when every child or parent gets the help they need at the time they need it. It’s the only measure of success in this work.”
