By the end of the first four months of 2011, eight people in Montrose County and four in Delta County had taken their own lives.

Nationally there are over 30,000 suicides in the United States each year — about one completed suicide each 16 minutes and one attempt every minute.

In an effort to avert such tragedy in 2012, the Center for Mental Health is collaborating with many local caring agencies and individuals to actively inform and help the public know what to look for, what to say, and what to do to prevent suicide.

Suicide is the most preventable cause of death because 90 percent of those who think about, attempt, or complete suicide are suffering from depression or some other form of treatable mental health disorder. Like other diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, depression has physical causes and can be successfully treated.

Mental health experts and history show that there is a year-to-year fluctuation in the suicide rate. However, Colorado has a suicide rate that is about 40 percent higher than the U.S. rate and the Western Slope typically has some of the higher rates in the state. More Coloradans die by suicide each year than those who die in motor vehicle crashes or by homicide — combined. Preventing suicide must become a public health priority.

According to Jon Gordon, executive director of the Center for Mental Health, "Suicide must become a community issue, it cannot be addressed by one agency and it cannot be one individual's problem or one family's concern. Suicide affects everyone and we are all diminished with each person whose life is lost to suicide."

The Center for Mental Health has an active ongoing suicide prevention program with free trainings, one of which is called QPR (Question Persuade Refer). This short informative training takes from one to two hours and can arm people with the skills to recognize when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis and teaches them what to say, what not to say, and what to do to prevent suicide. The center's suicide prevention program extends to the schools with SAFE:TEEN which stands for Suicide Awareness for Everyone. SAFE:TEEN teaches students suicide's warning signs so that they can help a friend or a class mate who may be experiencing suicidal thoughts.

If you are concerned that someone you know may be thinking about suicide and they are in immediate crisis, call 911 or the center's 24-hour confidential crisis number, 252-6220. Trained therapists are on staff 24 hours a day, every day to help someone experiencing a mental health crisis.

Another resource available is the Suicide Prevention Talk Line, 800-273-TALK (8255), a toll-free suicide prevention hotline network that provides free and confidential crisis counseling to anyone in need 24 hours a day seven days a week.

In addition to this crisis line, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have collaborated with Facebook to provide a site to help those in crisis: www.facebook.com/800273TALK. Crisis center workers from two centers in the Lifeline network are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to Facebook users opting to use the chat.

For more information or to schedule a QPR class, call Judy Schmalz, the Center for Mental Health suicide prevention coordinator, at 252-3228. You can find more help and information about suicide prevention at the center's website, www.centermh.org under the "Services" menu tab.

Remember: Help is a phone call away. Reach out, get help, save a life.