by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
Koren Stewart, Mrs. New Mexico 2005, spoke to a small crowd on Smith Plaza about suicide prevention.
She said people should watch closely for signs that their friends or family members are at risk of committing suicide.
"Watch for hopelessness, rage, uncontrolled anger, acting reckless or engaging in risky activity seemingly without thinking," she said.
Stewart participated in National Suicide Week along with UNM's Agora Crisis Center by raising awareness of suicide in the United States.
Every 40 seconds a recording of fictitious names played, along with short details about each person to represent suicide attempts in the United States.
According to Agora's statistics, a person attempts suicide every 40 seconds in the United States.
Banners displaying 362 handprints were meant to depict the number of suicides in New Mexico in 2001. In that year, New Mexico was ranked No.1 in the country for suicide. In 2002 there were 349 suicides in New Mexico, which brought the state's rank down to fifth in the nation.
Jeremy Jaramillo, public relations director of Agora, said there is a social stigma attached to suicide and people with mental illnesses, which could be why some people don't call crisis centers for help.
Jaramaillo said people can call Agora for any reason - from having a bad day or wanting to vent.
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Student Roni Garcia, who attended the event, said Agora is effective in helping people.
"I see tables set up all the time for Agora," she said. "So I think they're doing good at getting the message out there."
Stewart also read a list of statistics she said were interesting, including that the suicide rate is higher in mountain states and that men are four times more likely to complete suicide attempts than women.
"However, females attempt suicide three times more often than males," she said.
Jaramillo said Albuquerque has places like Agora or other mental health centers where people can turn to, but smaller counties in the state don't have the same resources.
Stewart said people get so wrapped up in their lives they can forget to talk to their loved ones to see how they're doing.
"Now matter how busy you get, make an effort to return that phone call to a friend that you haven't spoken to in a while," she said.
