Despite the steady erosion of stigmas around mental health, one topic of conversation remains uncomfortably taboo. The concept of suicide is so upsetting and, for many people, so mysterious and forbidden that it’s avoided, pushed aside, relegated to the dark corners of willfull negligence.

There’s a reason it’s called the “silent epidemic.” Between 2001 and 2017, incidents of suicide increased 31 percent in the United States across all ages, genders, and ethnicities. In 2017, the last full year of national data, it claimed the lives of 47,173 Americans at more than twice the rate of homicides. It was the leading cause of death among men age 65 and older and the second leading cause of death among anyone between the ages of 10 and 34.

Here in Santa Barbara County, the suicide rate peaked in 2016 with 71 incidents. Contributing to that figure was a cluster among middle school and high school students, including 64 attempts. Since then, the numbers have gone down, thanks in large part to a concerted effort by the county’s Department of Behavioral Wellness and school district officials. Students are now provided suicide awareness and prevention curriculum and are regularly screened for warning signs. But the overall problem remains.