"I'm sure you've heard suicide among young people in America is endemic. It's widespread. New Mexico is no exception to this rampant act. Certainly it's not just an Indian issue, but I'm sure you've heard suicide rates are worse in Native America. That's true. They're much worse.

Let me tell you just exactly how bad it is, in case you really want to know. Recently on the Zuni reservation there were 10 suicides in a one-year span. During a 13-month span on the Navajo reservation, just on the New Mexico side of the reservation, there were 15 suicides. The last suicide involved a 10-year-old kid who hung himself at the end of this past school year. That's pretty bad. The Pueblos and Apaches have similar problems.

I mention the Zuni and Navajo suicides because I want to tell you about the American Indian Life Skills curriculum. According to Hayes Lewis, director of the Center for Lifelong Education at the Institute of American Indian Arts, AILS is a program that embodies generic principles of health behavioral change and an appropriate level of cultural sensitivity.

"It has been found to reduce suicidal thoughts," said Hayes, a citizen of the Zuni tribe. "It increases confidence to manage anger, and to improve peer helping and suicide-prevention skills among the Zuni youth."

After the Zuni community was hit with a rash of suicides in the late '80s, while Hayes was superintendent of Zuni Schools, they called in Teresa LaFromboise, a professor at Stanford University, to assist them with their crisis."

Get the Story:
Harlan McKosato: In Native America, suicide statistics prompt action (The Santa Fe New Mexican 8/8)

Related Stories:
Youth suicide prevention discussed at Honoring Life Conference (7/14)
Editorial: Youth suicide puts focus on Navajo Nation community (7/8)
Navajo community moves to address suicide among its youth (6/28)
Navajo chapter in New Mexico suffers another youth suicide (5/17)
Indian school in New Mexico reels from string of suicides (4/29)