suicide
Monday numbers: the continuing student suicide crisis at NC State
Last week, students at North Carolina State University concluding their first week of finals learned of terrible news: two apparent student suicides. “This is heartbreaking,” Chancellor Randy Woodson wrote in a community message Thursday. “And I know there’s little I can say to console the deep hurt or heal the immense grief felt by the […]
Cumberland County pastor: North Carolina should keep its pistol permit law
Once a month, the organization that I lead holds a public vigil for peace and nonviolence in the city of Fayetteville. The purpose of the vigil is to raise social awareness, promote peace, and build a resilient and communal consciousness against the overwhelming and depressing wave of gun violence that has plagued our city and […]
North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force executive director Kella Hatcher
North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force executive director Kella Hatcher tells us about her group’s latest report and the big challenges our state faces in improving the health and well-being of our children. Read the 2023 report here.
Advocates denounce GOP attempt to repeal pistol purchasing permit law
Sharon Robinson’s son was shot to death while shopping at a convenience store. The senseless murder robbed Robinson of the joy of shopping, She’s now afraid to enter the kinds of stores in which her son died. “My husband, he goes to the convenience store, gas station, pumps gas for me. I no longer go,” […]
Monday numbers: A closer look at child injury and fatality trends
NC experienced a big spike in child firearm deaths in 2020 While parents and health care providers have been laser focused on the pandemic this year, members of the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force (CFTF) offered some sobering numbers last week about overall child injury trends.
Monday numbers: A closer look at rapidly climbing gun violence statistics
As Policy Watch reported earlier this month, the North Carolina Senate passed a bill (HB 398) that would repeal the state’s pistol purchase permit requirement. Though the bill is likely to see a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper, elimination of the state permit requirement has for years been a conservative goal that has at times divided Republicans and law enforcement in the state.
Editorial calls for immediate action to address emergency in NC jails
Be sure to check out this morning’s lead editorial in the Greensboro News & Record and its call for immediate action to address to an urgent crisis in North Carolina’s county jails. State officials should stop dragging their feet and take strong action to stop the growing number of deaths from suicide and drug overdose among […]
New survey gives snapshot of LGBTQ mental health, suicide risk
The Trevor Project’s first National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health was released this week — and its results are disturbing. Among the more dramatic results are numbers on suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among LGBTQ youth. Thirty-nine percent of LGBTQ young people surveyed seriously considered suicide in the year leading up to the survey. […]
House bill would require training for teachers to address teen suicide, dating violence
Local boards of educations would be required to create referral protocols for students at-risk of suicide and policies against dating violence under a bill working its way through the House. House Bill 434 would also require school boards to develop and implement a mental health training program for school-based employees who work directly with students […]
North Carolina has failed to make progress on mental health issues for 10 years
[Note: As was explained earlier this month in a post entitled “North Carolina needs help to meet strategic health objectives by 2020,” North Carolina is at real risk of failing to meet a series of objectives identified in 2010 as part of the “Healthy NC 2020” initiative. This post is part of a summer series […]
New report: Suicide the leading cause of death in NC jails; NC worse than most states
As noted in this space yesterday, the good people at Disability Rights North Carolina are out with a new, informative, easy-to-read and sobering report on what amounts to a crisis in North Carolina’s jails. The report, which complements this week’s series in Raleigh’s News & Observer is entitled “Suicide in North Carolina Jails.” This is […]