{"id":2450065,"date":"2019-10-18T22:48:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T04:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/recent-rfv-suicide-cluster-prompts-concern\/"},"modified":"2019-10-18T22:48:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-19T04:48:00","slug":"recent-suicide-cluster-in-roaring-fork-valley-prompts-concern-by-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/recent-suicide-cluster-in-roaring-fork-valley-prompts-concern-by-officials\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent suicide \u2018cluster\u2019 in Roaring Fork Valley prompts concern by officials"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Public health officials expressed concern last week after four Roaring Fork Valley residents died by suicide in the past month, including three deaths in a five-day period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a lot,\u201d said Jess Beaulieu, Pitkin County\u2019s mental health program administrator. \u201cThis is really unusual. It\u2019s a cluster of suicides.\u201d<\/p>\n

It began with a suicide in Carbondale in late September, according to law enforcement sources and Michelle Muething, executive director of the Aspen Hope Center. However, three more deaths occurred beginning Oct. 9 with a man found in Aspen, followed by the suicide of another man Oct. 11 in Snowmass Village and a third Sunday in Basalt, according to Snowmass Village Police Chief Brian Olson, Aspen Police Officer Braulio Jerez and Muething.<\/p>\n

\u201cFour different people, four different ages, four different walks of life, four different life circumstances,\u201d Muething said. \u201cWe always seek questions of why. I don\u2019t know if there are any answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many involved in law enforcement and mental health in the Roaring Fork Valley pointed to the offseason as a possible source of emotional trauma. Social networks can break down as people\u2019s jobs and housing are interrupted by the slow-down, leaving instability or more downtime as a consequence, Beaulieu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of that can contribute to mental illness or a lack of mental health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Whatever the source, the problem appears to be getting worse.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement in Aspen, Pitkin County and Snowmass Village responded to 199 mental health-related calls in the past three months, Beaulieu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a really big number,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were 78 calls in September, which was higher than (those in) July and August.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspen Valley Hospital is seeing double the number of mental health-related cases this year over last year, Beaulieu said. And not only are the number of mental health calls rising, so is the severity, she said. Doctors are seeing more acute mental health cases requiring what is known as an \u201cM-1 evaluation,\u201d which means the person is unstable enough to be evaluated at the psychiatric hospital in Grand Junction, Beaulieu said.<\/p>\n

Muething said she\u2019s not sure how much stock to put into theories blaming the shoulder season for an uptick in suicides.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a theory,\u201d she said. \u201c(But) it\u2019s not what prompted at least three of these (latest suicides) \u2026 which was mental health issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aspen Hope Center offers emotional trauma counseling services in Garfield, Eagle and Summit counties, and none of those communities have experienced a suicide spike similar to the Roaring Fork Valley in the past month, Muething said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a million theories about suicide,\u201d she said. \u201cThe bottom line is if we knew how to prevent suicides, suicides would stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best way to stop a suicide is to reach out if you are worried about a friend or family member, Muething said. And if the first person you talk to isn\u2019t receptive, keep reaching out until you find someone who is, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecome an advocate for someone you know is in trouble,\u201d Muething said. \u201cDon\u2019t stop trying. Don\u2019t assume you know someone and you think they\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suicide affects the wellness of a community as a whole, especially one as small the Roaring Fork Valley, Beaulieu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know five people who knew each of these people (who died),\u201d she said. \u201cWord travels quickly and it really rocks people\u2019s worlds. It\u2019s much more tangible and visceral than you would find in a larger, more urban landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an awareness that it\u2019s not just the suicides that are tragic, but there\u2019s some sensitivity that this is really upsetting for those of us still here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numerous resources exist for those in crisis. The Aspen Hope Center also offers trauma counseling for those left behind after a suicide.<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public health officials expressed concern last week after four Roaring Fork Valley residents died by suicide in the past month, including three deaths in a five-day period. \u201cThat\u2019s a lot,\u201d said Jess Beaulieu, Pitkin County\u2019s mental health program administrator. \u201cThis is really unusual. It\u2019s a cluster of suicides.\u201d It began with a suicide in Carbondale […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 12:58:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}