The stress of losing a job, the death of a loved one during the coronavirus pandemic, and feelings of isolation can be overwhelming according to Jaquila Newsome, with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.
“When you’re dealing with someone who is contemplating suicide, a lot of the time, they don’t look at the positives or anything outside of what’s going on. They’re concentrating just on how they feel at that time,” said Newsome.
Newsome says the warning signs include talking about wanting to die, mood changes, problems with concentrating, and feelings of helplessness. Suicides among young people is also a concern. Mark Eubank of Brandon says the oldest of his two sons, Bailey, took his own life in 2017. He says he didn’t notice anything because his 17-year old seemed “happy go lucky.” But later Eubank says he found out his son did talk about suicide.
“He said it to a girlfriend of his or a friend-girl, she didn’t take him serious. He told his ex-girlfriend. She didn’t take him serious and to the point to where she actually just said ‘well then go do it then I don’t care’ had all this awareness been before that, they might have said something to us,” said Eubank.
Now Eubank sponsors an annual golf tournament to raise awareness about suicide. Jaquila Newsome says in 2018, 422 people died by suicide in Mississippi. She says the state department of mental health has a helpline on their website people can call for help or text Home to 741741.
