The suicide rate among San Diegans in 2015 held steady from the year before, according to the latest annual report released this month by the San Diego County Suicide Prevention Council.
The group found that 427 San Diegans took their own lives last year — about 13 out of every 100,000 people in the county. That's compared to 420 in 2014 "when the suicide rate declined for the first time in recent history," according to the report.
The study also points out three populations with a high risk of suicide: veterans, Native Americans and LGBT youth.
Katharine Prescott lost her transgender son, Kyler, to suicide. He was 14.
“I can never make sense out of his death," Prescott said at a news conference on the report's release. "But I can try to do something positive out of my grief, to try and help save somebody else, the way Kyler wasn’t able to be helped.”
Visits to the county’s suicide prevention website It’s Up To Us rose by 57 percent last year, and calls to the local Access and Crisis hotline increased 1 percent on top of the 15 percent rise in 2014.
The report also found 1,965 San Diegans last year took part in a special training to learn how to help someone who may be at risk.
Suicide prevention specialist Stan Collins said it never hurts to ask.
“I try to remind people constantly that the most important conversations you can have are around the dinner table, on the couch, over the phone with people that you love, is to not be afraid to ask someone directly, ‘Are you thinking about suicide, and what can I do to help?’” Collins said.
