The San Diego County Suicide Prevention Council, Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP), and the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency Behavioral Health Services released its Report to the Community 2024 that highlights suicide prevention efforts and data, as well as the updated Suicide Prevention Action Plan (SNAP) 2024 which was last updated in 2018. Suicide is the leading cause of death in San Diego County, and the SPC is a collaborative, community-wide effort focused on realizing a vision of zero suicides in the county.
At the Jan. 13 press conference, CHIP Program Manager, Suicide Prevention Council Linda Puebla said the purpose of the press conference is to convey to the community that suicide can be prevented.
“CHIP is the programmatic lead of the San Diego County’s of the San Diego County’s SPC. Our council has formally been in existence for almost 15 years. But CHIPs work dates back to the late 90s,” she said. “Our mission is to prevent suicide and its devastating consequences.”
San Diego County Behavioral Health Services Director Dr. Luke Bergmann said the goal is to show the community that everyone has a role to play in suicide prevention.
“Suicide prevention efforts are most successful when done collectively, and this new SNAP report is to help everyone in the region, both individuals and organizations develop strategies, and to take actions to prevent suicides,” he said.
Bergmann said along with recent data, the report builds off decades of planning and evaluation of efforts and activities.
“First, there has been a significant decrease in annual deaths in San Diego County over the last five years for which we have data,” he said. “In 2023, there were 363 suicides deaths among San Diego County residents. This represents an overall 12% decrease compared to 2019. The various things we are doing in our communities are clearly working. We see these decreases across all demographics and all geographies. Although we have seen a slight increase in our oldest community members, we have seen reduction across all other age cohorts, including young people between the ages of 10 and 24, who are our greatest concern.”
Bergmann said the CDC reports that 20% of deaths among youth nationwide are attributable to suicide. He said although the overall arch is promising, there is news from data over the past two years that is concerning.
“Overall, between 2021 and 2023, there has been a six percent increase in suicide deaths. We see emerging vulnerability among certain populations. Between 2021 and 2023 suicides increased 51% for non-Hispanic Black residents. During the same period, there was a 56% in the suicide rate among those 10 and 24. These are harrowing mortality numbers,” he said. “This data shows that females and youth are particularly vulnerable as we have seen increases in suicide attempt and ideation over the past five years, even as rates of deaths have decreased. The group with the highest rate of death is middle aged or older non-Hispanic white men, particularly those that live in East County, which geographically has the highest rate of suicide death in our county.”
Bergmann said overwhelmingly, males who attempt suicide, do so using firearms.
“Overwhelmingly over other suicide attempts, firearms are deadly,” he said. “We need to keep pressing on safer use and opportunity for safer storage, and we are doing that as part of the Gun Violence Reduction Work Plan, in which behavioral health, in partnership with the SPC, will be increasing education about means reduction and firearm safety as a method to prevent suicide.”
Bergmann said Mobile Crisis Response Teams began deploying to school districts in November 2024. The Helping, Engaging, Reconnecting, and Educating (HERE) Now program has reached more than 3,800 students providing suicide risk assessments and interventions.
