Washington tribes battle youth suicide

BELLINGHAM (AP):

Suicide stalks Indian Country, claiming more lives of native youth than those in any other population, not only in Washington, but nationally.

State Department of Health statistics released this month show that, in Washington, the rate of suicide among native youth from 10 to 24 years old was more than double the rate of any other ethnic population.

Tribes are fighting back. At the Lummi Nation, tribal leaders last year enhanced a long-standing social-services programme with a youth suicide-prevention component. The Colville, Spokane and Yakama tribes also are utilising prevention grants and training through the Native Aspirations Program. The Spokane-based programme for the past five years has helped 65 tribes across the country combat suicide, the second-biggest killer of native youth after accidents.

That might even be an undercount, experts say.

"The car accident, the gun death, the overdose, there are a lot of suicides that are not reported as such," said Victoria Wagner, executive director of the non-profit Youth Suicide Prevention Program, based in Seattle, with outreach workers across the state working with schools and parent groups to teach the warning signs of suicide and prevention strategies.