Brazos Valley raises awareness for suicide prevention month [Video]

Doug Vance says suicide is an equal opportunity killer, and the Brazos Valley Coalition on Suicide Prevention founder hopes to spread awareness and outreach on the signs and aftermath of suicide.

“I’ve met several people that have lost loved ones to suicide right here in the community and they had nowhere to turn to,” Vance said. “We just thought, ‘Let’s break the stigma of people being afraid to talk about suicide and get the conversation going, so we had a conference, very well attended, and from that we saw a big need in the community.”

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness month. Throughout September, the coalition will conduct public outreach to educate citizens on suicide warning signs, risk factors and the current social stigmas that exist. CDC data from 2023shows that depression rates in Brazos County were higher than the state average of 17.7% with Brazos County reaching 20-22%. The age range with …