by Abigail Ramirez
Daily Lobo
Jeremy Jaramillo, spokesman for the Agora Crisis Center, said it is important to talk about suicide.
He spoke at the premiere of the movie "Jumping off Bridges" at the Southwest Film
Center on Friday.
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"This is something everyone is affected by and has life experiences with," Jaramillo said. "Until we use these events to make this something more normal - more comfortable to talk about - we will stay in this state of ignorance and people will continue to die."
The premiere was part of National Suicide Prevention Week.
Before the movie, audience members held candles in front of a decorated 60-foot canvas in remembrance of suicide victims.
Quilts made by suicide survivors hung on display in the SUB.
"Jumping off Bridges" is about a family dealing with a mother's suicide and how the people around it are affected.
"What we want is to have people start talking about suicide," said Stacy Schoolfield, the producer.
"Jumping off Bridges" was produced in six weeks by teens in Austin, Texas.
"There is recovery after grief," Schoolfield said. "You can move on past it, and your family can recover. Your friends will recover and you can go on."
The desire for suicide means a need for help and compassion, Jaramillo said.
"If we could take a magic wand and say, 'I'm going to take away all of your problems right now,' I would say, without fail, most of those people would say, 'I don't want to kill myself,'" he said.
A study done in Boulder, Colo., estimated that for every suicide in our country, there are at least six intimately-affected people and about 600 indirectly-affected people, Jaramillo said.
"I believe that to be a low estimate, especially for our state," he said. "I think if we did that in our state it would be, unfortunately, much higher."
Signs of suicide are giving away possessions, withdrawal, anger, talking about suicide, anxiety, self-mutilation, depression, weight loss or weight gain and problems sleeping, Jaramillo said.
"We get people before they feel suicidal, and that's very important to us," Jaramillo said. "We want to help people learn how to cope. We want to help people to learn how to reach out for help."
Calling a crisis center is only the first step for people having suicidal thoughts, Jaramillo said.
"They should also be screened by a mental health professional and could even need to get on a regimen of therapy and perhaps medication," he said.
Agora started in 1970 in response to a campus suicide.
