Four UNM students have committed suicide since July.
Carol Wagner-Adams, director of Counseling and Therapy Services, said given UNM's student population of 25,000, about 1.7 students will commit suicide each year. Last year, five students committed suicide.
The numbers do not reflect the number of students who have tried to commit suicide or who have thought about it, she said.
Nationally, for every 100,000 university students, about seven commit suicide each year, she said.
Suicide rates for non-university students in the same age group are twice as high.
"When you compare any group, you are going to find a much higher rate in the general population than in the university population," Wagner-Adams said.
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The mountain region including New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, has the highest rate in the country. New Mexico is consistently in the top five in suicide rates.
Although resources are available, about 78 percent of university students who kill themselves never visited their campus counseling centers, Wagner-Adams said.
Each year, about 100 suicide calls go into the Agora Crisis Center.
Molly McCoy-Brack, Agora's director, said it's hard to know what people do after they hang up.
She said a lot of times people do not know what resources are available and are afraid to tell anybody what they're thinking. Sometimes, she said, when they ask for help, those listening aren't sure what to do.
One of the center's main focuses is on what signs to look for and how others can help those who are thinking about suicide. This year, Agora joined other organizations to form the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition to coordinate efforts to prevent suicide in the state.
Wagner-Adams said the individual who wants to be successful often doesn't reach out for resources.
A few weeks ago, Wagner-Adams and Beverly Kloeppel, director of the Student Health Center, gave a presentation to directors of programs under Student Affairs about the increased mental health and suicide problems on campus.
"We're just concerned about this becoming a national concern with students having more mental health problems than in the past," said Eliseo Torres, vice president for Student Affairs.
He said more offices have been calling Student Affairs to find ways to address students who might be thinking about suicide.
McCoy-Brack said she hasn't seen a lot of interest from departments about receiving presentations on suicide.
Agora received about $10,000 from the Department of Health to give presentations on campus and in the community.
"We haven't done that much on campus, and we'd like to be doing more," McCoy-Brack said.
Help hotlines
National suicide hotline
1-800-SUICIDE
Agora Crisis Center
277-3013
agora@unm.edu
UNM Counseling and Therapy Services
277-4537
UNM Psychiatric Center
by referral:
272-4763
