Helping News June 2013 Issue 60
Youth Suicide Risk and Gun Access
As reported by NBC News, research findings presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting indicate that approximately 20% of youth who were at risk for suicide reside in a home with a gun present; nearly a third of those youth knew where the gun was located and nearly a third knew were to find ammunition. While only 15% of participants who were suicidal knew how to access both firearms and bullets, counselors should screen for weapons in the home and encourage parents both to secure firearms and to have open conversations about suicidal ideation with their children.
As indicated by the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention, suicide is the
third leading cause of death
for youth (ages 10-24), and
guns are the method used
for about half of those suicides.
More information coming...
