Opinion: Improving trend in Minnesota’s suicide rate is a milestone, not a finish line

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The Minnesota Star Tribune’s recent article “Minnesota’s suicide death rate appears to be leveling off after years of increases” (May 16) offers a rare and encouraging piece of news: Our state may finally be seeing a plateau — or even a decline — in suicide deaths. That’s something to celebrate. For families and communities devastated by suicide loss, even a glimmer of progress offers hope.

But let’s be clear that this is a milestone, not a finish line.

Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death in Minnesota, claiming more than 700 lives each year. Behind each number is a person — a parent, a child, a friend, coworker, neighbor — whose absence is felt forever. While the data may be improving, the crisis is far from over.

The progress we’re seeing reflects the coordination, intention and persistence of many. At the state level, the Minnesota Suicide Prevention Taskforce has provided thoughtful leadership to guide strategy and elevate the issue. Individuals like Kelly Felton, Minnesota’s suicide prevention coordinator; Tanya Carter, manager of the Minnesota Department of Health’s suicide prevention program, and Stefan Gingerich, the department’s suicide prevention epidemiologist, have helped shape a statewide approach grounded in data, collaboration and compassion.

Their efforts have shown that suicide prevention in Minnesota is truly bipartisan. This issue doesn’t check party affiliation. It doesn’t care about ideology. And across red, blue and purple districts, Minnesotans have shown what’s possible when we lead with empathy and purpose.

At the same time, we must recognize that the day-to-day, hands-on work of suicide prevention is being done by local, grassroots nonprofit organizations. Often operating with limited resources, these groups are providing prevention training in schools, distributing free gun locks at community events, responding to families after a loss and offering connection and care to people in crisis.

They are not an add-on to the system. They are the system.

If Minnesota wants to continue bending the curve in the right direction, we must do more to support these organizations — and to move from acknowledgment to action.

SAVE — a national suicide prevention nonprofit based in Minnesota, encourages Minnesota’s policymakers to take the following five steps:

1) Establish a bipartisan legislative suicide prevention caucus. Let’s build on what works. A bipartisan caucus would formalize cooperation among legislators, support education around evidence-based approaches and provide a consistent voice for suicide prevention at the State Capitol.

2) Provide suicide prevention training for elected officials. Leadership should start with learning. Every state legislator and staff member should have access to basic suicide prevention training to recognize warning signs and respond effectively. You don’t need to be a clinician to help — you just need to be prepared.

3) Launch a Minnesota suicide prevention partnership fund. A simple, flexible grant program would give local and regional nonprofits access to the resources they desperately need. The funding should be equitable, accessible and designed to scale what’s already working — not create new bureaucratic barriers.

4) Fully fund suicide prevention training for teachers and students — paid for by a new 988 license plate. Teachers don’t need another unfunded mandate. They need support. Let’s create a specialty 988 license plate, with proceeds dedicated to age-appropriate suicide prevention training for educators and students in every Minnesota school district. No student should feel alone in their pain. No teacher should feel helpless in knowing how to help.

5) Designate September as Minnesota Suicide Prevention Training Month — within National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. September is already recognized nationally for suicide prevention awareness. Minnesota should expand on that by declaring the month as Suicide Prevention Training Month, encouraging every Minnesotan to take a training course. Programs offered by organizations like SAVE, NAMI and others — some free, some low-cost — can help people of all backgrounds learn to spot warning signs, start lifesaving conversations and connect others to care. If we can learn CPR, we can learn this too.

We know what works: early intervention, stigma reduction, strong community connections, addressing the social determinants of health and lethal means safety. We know local organizations can reach people in ways government cannot. We know that bipartisan collaboration is possible and it’s already happening here.

The recent data gives us reason to hope. But trends don’t save lives — people do. Teachers. Volunteers. Grief counselors. Parents. Teens. Lawmakers. Neighbors. We all have a role to play.

Let’s take this moment to acknowledge progress. Let’s also seize it as a call to action.

Because saving lives is not the responsibility of a single agency or month. It’s the work of a movement — and Minnesota can continue to lead.

Erich Mische is the CEO of SAVE — Suicide Awareness Voices of Education — a Minnesota-based national suicide prevention nonprofit that was founded in 1989. The organization’s website is save.org.