UOG group works to prevent suicide

With September marking Suicide Prevention Month, this week's Everyday Hero focuses on a group targeting prevention efforts at the University of Guam. Head program assistant Morael Escalona  said, "I pinangon is basically UOG's Campus Suicide Prevention Program. We mainly focus on prevention, but our services also include intervention and postvention, as well."

Their mission is tri-fold: prevention, intervention, and postvention. And with the fall semester in full swing, Escalona says college stressors may sometimes lead to suicidal thoughts. "There's a lot that's coming in right now especially now that classes have started. It's definitely be higher once finals come in and the stressors of college life come in," he said. "The suicide rates here are very high. And the age bracket that's at most risk is from 20-years-old to 30-years-old. That's practically the college age. So, definitely UOG's age bracket is something that we want to focus on."

Every week, the program hosts events and classroom presentations to get the conversation going. After all, program assistant Darlene Caasi says talking about suicide can prevent it. "We teach people how to recognize people who are having thoughts of suicide. We also teach them how to listen without being judgmental. And most importantly, our main goal is to normalize the topic of suicide. We teach people to talk more openly about suicide. Because research shows that talking about suicide is more helpful than not talking about it," she said.

Because the program is federally funded, it's free of charge to the community. Escalona said, "The beauty of it is that our services here are actually free. So we not only cater to UOG, but we also cater to those in the community who don't have the financial capabilities to find these services or they're currently on a waiting list. We accept walk-ins and they can even do same day appointments."

If you've lost a loved one to suicide, you can also avail their services. "We mainly focus on the loved ones who've lost someone to suicide especially in suicide there's more factors that would bring feelings of guilt, anger. We want to normalize it. It's a common reaction to it. There's nothing wrong about it. 0606 the reason we focus on these people is they can become so upset to the point they'll try to commit suicide as well," he said.

The I'Pinangon office is located on the second floor of the University of Guam HSS Building Classroom 212.

For more information, visit http://www.uog.edu or call 735-2888.