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Last fall, the UNH Center on Adolescence was given a grant by the partnership to evaluate its Frameworks project, which is aimed at increasing awareness of suicide and developing a strong system of support through training and the integration of existing services. "The overarching goal," says Malley, "is to make suicide prevention an integrated community responsibility and part of people's ongoing work."

Frameworks has developed protocols for responding to suicide-related emergencies for primary care physicians, EMTs, police officers, police dispatchers, emergency room staff members, social service providers, people in the judicial system, teachers, principals, coaches, bus drivers, the media—people whom Frameworks coordinator Ken Norton calls "the gatekeepers"—in the ultimate hope of saving lives. "Nobody is doing this nationally," Norton says, "so there's a lot of interest in this project."

The Center on Adolescence will evaluate the project's effectiveness. "One of the exciting pieces about this project, but also one of the real challenges, is that it is designed to be a community intervention," says Kristine Baber, center director and a UNH associate professor of family studies. "It takes an ecological approach. The whole community, theoretically, is able to work and respond together as necessary."

There are a great many challenges that lie ahead for those working on suicide prevention. For one, there is a stigma attached to seeking out mental health services. Nearly 90 percent of suicide victims have some form of psychiatric illness—mostly mood disorders or substance abuse—at the time of their death, and these disorders are usually undiagnosed and, therefore, untreated. Many attribute the high suicide rate among young men to the fact that men tend not to seek out help.

David Finkelhor, professor of sociology and director of UNH's Crimes Against Children Research Center, is optimistic that progress is being made and points to the decline in teenage suicide since the '90s, after a decade of increase. Possible reasons include better prevention programs, fewer children living in poverty and an increase in the number of children taking psychiatric medications, although the latter has a significant asterisk: The FDA has issued a warning that some antidepressant drugs may increase the risk of suicide in children and adolescents.

Finkelhor adds that crime against children is down, and he gives schools credit. "We know that isolated and victimized kids are highly at risk, and that schools that deal with this make a difference," he says. But he still sees a need for greater strides, particularly in changing what he calls "the influence of bystanders," both other students and adults. "Schools that make bullying less acceptable and develop codes of conduct have a greater chance of improving the climate for all students," he says.

Suicide prevention requires an awareness of the problem, an understanding of the risk factors and a much-improved community effort, say experts. But as Malley says, "The most important thing for people to know is that suicide is preventable."

For more information on suicide prevention, call the UNH Counseling Office at (603) 862-2090 or visit its Web site at http://www.unhcc.unh.edu/resources/suicide.html

Michael Brosnan '80G is the editor of Independent School and the author of Against the Current, How One School Struggled and Succeeded with At-Risk Youth. He lives with his family in Exeter, N.H.

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