LOCAL COUNSELING CENTER SAYS VOLUME OF SUICIDE CALLS IS ON THE RISE

A year ago, only about half as many people in Southeast Missouri were seeking help to handle suicidal thoughts, say area counselors.

"The volume of those considering suicide is increasing," said Claire Lafoon, director of education for the Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau.

Since last Spring, the Counseling Center has assisted in providing a crisis hotline and creating a five-member team of counselors to respond to emergency needs. This could be anything from a person with a revolver to his head or a fight between spouses.

"Some of our cases are life and death," Lafoon said. "But we let our clients define their own emergencies."

An overall increase in patients, not just those threatening suicide, might be the result of better public awareness of new programs, said Caroline Brown, supervisor for the Access Crisis Intervention team.

Regardless of the reason, the center is continuing to stay busy.

"We've had between seven and nine walk-ins every day in January of people with an emergency crisis," Brown said.

The center had made plans to handle a greater number of people not coping with Y2K. But individuals anxious over the new millennium never materialized, Brown said.

"We only got a couple of calls from people who were afraid of Y2K," she said.

Deaths, job loss, and relational conflicts are just some of the catalysts that move people toward considering suicide, she said.

When counselors make contact with a suicidal person, either through a relative, a police officer or the individual himself, their aim is to de-escalate the crisis mentality that brought on thoughts of suicide, Brown said.

"Our primary goal is to keep them safe," she said. "By law, we have to."

If a person has not actually cut his wrists or made some other attempt to kill himself, a counselor will try to guide him into signing a written contract, stating that he is not going to try to kill himself. This is part counseling, part limitation of liability for the counselor, she said.

When it's possible, Brown tries to get a relative to sign the contract also, which increases the sense of commitment by all involved.

"When a depressed person becomes isolated, there is a greater risk," she said.

Those who have hurt themselves or refuse to back down from suicide plans are committed to a treatment facility by a judge's order.

"Sometimes we have to knock on the door and wake a judge up in the middle of the night," Brown said.

The standard term of confinement to a treatment facility is 96 hours, although a judge has leeway to increase this.

Many adults who have threatened suicide are committed to either Southeast Missouri Hospital or the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center in Farmington. When a juvenile needs to be hospitalized for suicidal threats, or when drug and alcohol treatment is needed, patients are often sent to St. Louis or Poplar Bluff. Treatment for these conditions near Cape Girardeau are limited, Brown said.

Before someone is sent to a facility for treatment, one of five doctors who work as on-call consultants for the Crisis Intervention team has to give consent.

Members of the crisis counseling team respond to requests for on-site evaluations of patients and prisoners by hospital and law enforcement every week, Lafoon said.

Before going to a suicidal person's home, a counselor will either make sure police are already present or that they are willing to meet there, said Lisa Goodson, a member of the crisis team.

Hospital calls are more serious, since a person has usually done something to hurt himself. When called to a jail, Lafoon tries to get as much background as she can by talking to jailers or relatives. Some may think threats of suicide are a way out of jail, while others are panicking.

"People who are experiencing their first time in jail, facing long terms, may truly be serious about suicide at the time," she said.

Only two deaths in Cape Girardeau were called suicides last year, police said.

The Counseling Center covers a five-county area through offices in Perryville and Fredericktown, Brown said. These are Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry, Madison and Ste. Genevieve counties.

If a friend or relative is expressing thoughts of death, giving away many personal possessions or refusing to eat and sleep, these could be early signs of suicide, Lafoon said. It is best to build communication, and to ask questions rather than lecture, she said.

Although the Community Counseling Center operates on a sliding fee schedule, charging patients based on income, a lack of money should not stop someone from seeking help, Brown said.

"We will never turn down someone because of money," she said.

Assistance from the Community Counseling Center is available by calling 573-335-1100 or 1-800-356-5395.

CRISIS HOTLINE

The Community Counseling Center operates a crisis hotline for a five-county area to assist people in need of mental health services. Breakdown of calls received after hours and on weekends throughout 1999:

Who called?

1,118 Individual/self

118 Family member

105 Medical facility or professional

72 Law enforce-

ment

33 Mental health worker

13 Friend

8 Jail/

Correc- tions/

Detention

3 School

3 Division of Family Services

17 Other

TOTAL CRISIS CALLS: 1,370

Problems presented:

* Supportive counseling for non-acute mental health needs

* Acute psychiatric crisis

* Currently suicidal

* Information referral

* Access to or problems with psychiatric mediations

* Childhood/adolescent problems

* Substance abuse

* Housing

* Harm or threats of harm to self (other than suicidal)

* Harm or threats of harm to others

* Domestic violence

* Inability to meet basic needs

* Other

24-HOUR HOTLINE: 1-800-356-5395