Learning that eight out of 10 youth who take their own lives had seen a healthcare provider within months of their deaths only added fuel to an already burning fire for Bruno Anthony, PhD.
Suicide deaths climbed 62% among 10- to 24-year-olds between 2007 and 2021 and were a focus of the professor of psychiatry long before joining the University of Colorado School of Medicine from Georgetown University in 2018.
A review of 63 studies concluded that loneliness and social isolation among
children and adolescents increase the risk of depression and anxiety.
– U.S. surgeon general advisory
With Colorado having one of the highest youth suicide rates in the country, Anthony went right to work to ensure the state’s suicidal youth find the right help at the right time. And his efforts, buoyed by the hospital’s declaration of a state of emergency for youth mental health three years ago, are paying off.
Suicide ranks as the No. 2 killer of youth in the nation behind accidental deaths but claims the No. 1 spot for middle- and high-school-aged youth in some Western states, including Colorado. “What drives me is this constant awareness of a lack of effective interventions,” said Anthony, the chief of psychology at Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Pediatric Mental Health Institute.
Anthony and colleagues saw the statistic that kids were seeing providers within a year before their deaths as an open door for change. “We said: OK, if that’s the case, then we need to work with these healthcare folks and help them do a better job of screening and identifying and providing early treatment.”
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Anthony shared more about the work his team has been doing in the following Q&A. The researchers recently received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to measure the effectiveness of that work and are recruiting primary care providers for the study.