Typically this column offers anecdotal stories of my life including cute stories of my grandchildren, patients I counsel in my psychotherapy office, kids and adults I teach, struggles in my garden and successes in my kitchen. I offer information in this informal format to aid the reader to connect with my message supporting mental wellness, the culinary arts and education. This week is different. This week I broach a difficult subject void of informal conversation to ensure the clarity of my message - the message of saving a life.

QPR (Question, Persuade and Refer) is a suicide prevention program developed by Dr. Paul Quinnett, which offers tools to help one in pain who is contemplating suicide. As a QPR Gatekeeper trainer, I offer the following information so you can save a life. First I offer the reality of suicide through statistical and research analysis then relay what one can do to support a person who is questioning or deciding to end their life.

The research

• Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Idahoans age 15-34 and for males age 10-14.

(The leading cause of death is accidents.)

• Idaho is consistently among the states with the highest suicide rates. In 2007 (the most recent year available) Idaho had the 11th highest suicide rate, 36 percent higher than the national average. In 2010, 290 people completed suicide in Idaho. Between 2006 and 2010, 81 percent of suicides were by men. In 2010, 63 percent of Idaho suicides involved a firearm. The national average is 52 percent.

• 14.2 percent of Idaho youth attending traditional high schools reported seriously considering suicide in 2009. 6.9 percent reported making at least one attempt.

• In 2007, there were 34,600 deaths by suicide in the United States, an average of one person every 15 minutes.

• It is estimated that suicide attempts in Idaho result in $36 million in costs annually. Idaho's costs for suicide completions annually is more than $850,000 in medical care alone, and $343 million in total lifetime productivity lost. (Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline Report, Idaho State University IRH, 2010)

• The rate of suicide completion in Idaho is: 14.7 per 100,000 persons (2007)

• The "2009 Idaho Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS): A Healthy Look at Idaho Youth" is based on a survey of 2,164 ninth through 12th-graders in 53 public high schools across the state in the spring of 2009. 28.5 percent of high school students reported that in the previous 12 months they felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more that they stopped doing some usual activities.

• One in seven high school students and one in four ninth-grade females reported seriously considering suicide in the previous 12 months.

• During the previous year 13.3 percent of high school students reported having actually made a plan about how they would attempt suicide.

• 8.2 percent of high school females and 5.4 percent of high school males have attempted suicide one or more times during the previous 12 months.

Myths and facts

• Myth: No one can stop a suicide, it is inevitable. Fact: If people in a crisis get the help they need, they will probably never be suicidal again.

• Myth: Confronting a person about suicide will only make them angry and increase the risk of suicide. Fact: Asking someone directly about suicidal intent lowers anxiety, opens up communication and lowers the risk of an impulsive act.

• Myth: Only experts can prevent suicide. Fact: Suicide prevention is everybody's business and anyone can help prevent the tragedy of suicide.

• Myth: Suicidal people keep their plans to themselves. Fact: Most suicidal people communicate their intent sometime during the week preceding their attempt.

• Myth: Those who talk about suicide do not do it. Fact: People who talk about suicide may try or even complete an act of self-destruction.

• Myth: Once a person decides to complete suicide, there is nothing anyone can do to stop them. Fact: Suicide is the most preventable kind of death and almost any positive action may save a life.

Warning signs

Suicide warning signs include a previous suicide attempt, current talk of suicide, making a plan to end their life, strong wish to die or preoccupied with death (thoughts, music, reading), depression, hopelessness, withdrawn, substance abuse, recent attempt by friend or family member.

Suicide behavioral clues include any previous suicide attempt, acquiring a gun or stockpiling pills, co-occurring, depression, moodiness, hopelessness, impulsivity/increased risk taking - self-destructive acts, giving away prized possessions to friends, sudden interest or disinterest in religion, drug or alcohol abuse or relapse, unexplained anger, aggression and irritability, skipping school; running away.

Situations that precipitate a suicide attempt might include being expelled from school, fired from a job, a sudden move, family problems or alienation, loss of any major relationship, death of a friend or family member, especially if by suicide, diagnosis of a serious or terminal illness, financial problems (either their own or within the family), sudden loss of freedom or fear of punishment, feeling embarrassed or humiliated in front of peers or being the victim of assault or bullying.

Next week I will offer the QPR steps to save a life. Please remember, as Dr. Paul Quinnett states, "We are only responsible for what we know at the time we know it... not for things we will learn later on!"

If you know someone who is suicidal today, please call the numbers below. If you have questions about suicide or need help with someone struggling, please email me and I will help find hope. Next week we will walk through the steps of QPR.

• Emergency: 911

• Kootenai County Crisis Line: (208) 664-1443

• Kootenai Behavioral Health Center: (208) 765-4800

• Project Safe Place Coeur d'Alene: (208) 676-0772

• SPAN Idaho (Suicide Prevention Action Network) website: http://www.spanidaho.org/

• QPR website: http://www.qprinstitute.com/

Bill Rutherford is a psychotherapist, public speaker, elementary school counselor, adjunct college psychology instructor and executive chef, and owner of Rutherford Education Group. Please email him at bprutherford@hotmail.com.