Why does youth suicide happen? A southeast Michigan expert offers insight.
“Why?”
It’s a question that plagues parents of children who die of suicide — the second leading cause of death among kids ages 10-14 and the third leading cause of death among those 15-24, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
While every person’s situation is unique, there are some common themes when it comes to youth suicide, Chelsea Zuteck, a licensed clinical social worker at Horizon Counseling Center, tells Metro Parent in its January/February 2023 article “Why Youth Suicide Happens,” which is part of a special 2023 content series sponsored by the Flinn Foundation.
“As a broad statement, I would say that sometimes teenagers have trouble with coping with stressors that may be associated with being a teen such as dealing with rejection, failure, breakups, school difficulties, things like that,” she says.
Because the brain’s frontal lobe, which is its impulse control center, doesn’t develop until the mid-20s, brain development can play a role in youth suicide, as well. Other factors that increase the risk of youth include substance abuse, trauma, bullying and lack of access to mental health care, among others.
Zuteck advises parents to keep an eye out for any changes in their child’s behavior. If he or she is withdrawing, giving away belongings or making statements like, “I wish I wasn’t here anymore,” or, “The world would be better off without me,” he or she could be contemplating suicide.
Don’t ignore the signs, Zuteck suggests. Talk, talk and talk some more. Begin a conversation with your child about mental health and suicide. Share your own experiences (perhaps you’ve seen a therapist in the past or have struggled with your own mental health issues) and consider having your child work with a therapist.
“I think it’s good to have someone unbiased who is there to listen to you, hear your perspective,” she says.
For even more insight and advice on how to help your child who may be struggling with thoughts of suicide, read the full article at MetroParent.com.
With the help of the Flinn Foundation, this organization has been able to expand access to behavioral health treatment to clients suffering from addiction and mental illness.
Everyone deserves a chance to turn their life around, and with the help of Mariners Inn, that’s exactly what those struggling with substance abuse and homelessness receive.
“Mariners Inn is a substance abuse treatment and recovery center for homeless men. That was our original mission,” says David Sampson, the CEO of Mariners Inn. “We have since evolved based on some of the things that are going on now, but our goal is to help those who are struggling with the disease of addiction and homelessness develop some tools and coping mechanisms to re-enter society clean and sober regain their dignity and respect in the community, more importantly with their family and their friends.”
Recently, Mariners Inn took an important step in expanding its services to treat women who are homeless and struggling with addiction, as well. The organization broke ground on a new building in Detroit that will include services for female patients. The $24 million project will also include recovery housing apartments, therapy and job training.
About a decade ago, Mariners Inn turned to the Flinn Foundation for some help with an initiative that focused on the mental health of the people they serve. During studies and assessments, Sampson says, the group discovered that many of those they served had co-occurring disorders, meaning they are dealing with addiction coupled with mental health issues. Mariners Inn wanted to help, so they applied to get a grant to hire a cooccurring disorders therapist to work with the men they serve. They were successful in doing so, and every year since then they have applied for different funding related to mental health issues.
“Flinn Foundation’s support will allow Mariners to expand their residential treatment services for those dealing with addiction,” says Andrea Cole, Flinn Foundation’s executive director and CEO.
Grants were used to secure a psychiatrist to provide additional services to the people that they serve but to also help apply for additional funding.
“They helped us with the seed money to go out and find a psychiatrist to No. 1 assess our current population and No. 2 to help us apply for other funding to third party payers and things of that nature,” he says.
“The other one, which was a very important grant to follow up and follow through on, was a nurse practitioner that dealt with mental health and substance abuse and could also be the right hand or liaison to the current psychiatrist,” he adds.
These initiatives have been a success, Sampson notes, and it would not have been done without the help of the Flinn Foundation,
“That partnership has meant the world to us and to have that connection means that much more, and the reason I speak about that connection is because of our relationship and my relationship really with Andrea Cole, who I think is a dynamic leader. I think her foresight into mental health and helping those agencies who subscribe to treating mental health, I think her work and ambassadorship with them is phenomenal,” he says. “And we wouldn’t be where we are today if it had not been for the support and belief in our mission that Andrea and the Flinn Foundation has in us.”
Each year, the Ethel & James Flinn Foundation provides grants to southeast Michigan organizations who are doing their part to promote mental health awareness, access and understanding. For application information, visit the Flinn Foundation’s grant application information page.
The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation partners with Metro Parent to create a year-long series of articles promoting mental health awareness and understanding. We invite you to read the current article, Practical Ways to Handle Toxic Family.
To follow the series, go to www.metroparent.com. We encourage you to contact us with questions or comments.
The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation partners with Metro Parent to create a year-long series of articles promoting mental health awareness and understanding. We invite you to read the current article, The Connection Between Sleep and Mental Health.
To follow the series, go to www.metroparent.com. We encourage you to contact us with questions or comments.
The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation partners with Metro Parent to create a year-long series of articles promoting mental health awareness and understanding. We invite you to read the current article, 5 Ways to Be a Better Listener — and Why it Matters.
To follow the series, go to www.metroparent.com. We encourage you to contact us with questions or comments.
The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation partners with Metro Parent to create a year-long series of articles promoting mental health awareness and understanding. We invite you to read the current article, Defining Depression.
To follow the series, go to www.metroparent.com. We encourage you to contact us with questions or comments.
For more than 14 years, Arnita Thorpe has been the Flinn Foundation’s go-to person. As Operations Manager, she helps with pretty much everything that the Flinn Foundation does –from grant managing and accounting to IT and web development. But when we asked her about herself and all she does for the organization, she was pretty reticent. She’s not one who seeks the spotlight or toots her own horn. As Flinn’s Executive Director and CEO, Andrea Cole, says, “Arnita is modest! She’s literally the glue that holds this organization together and running so smoothly.” But while Thorpe downplayed her role with Flinn, she shared some interesting insights into her family, her favorite food, what she loves doing in her spare time and more.
What drew me to work for Flinn is the staff. I worked with Andrea (Executive Director & CEO) and Leonard (retired Chief Investment Officer and current Board Trustee) for over 30 years. We have a great working relationship.
I have been married to my high school sweetheart Richard for 44 years. We have one son and five grandsons.
Filet mignon – and Andiamo and Joe Muer are the Detroit restaurants I go to.
My free time is spent watching Lifetime channel movies. Lacey Chabert is one of the actresses I watch all the time. There is no favorite or specific movie. I look at the previews and if it appeals to me, I set my DVR, just in case I don’t have time to watch.
I grew up eating Coneys at the American Coney Island in downtown Detroit. I do not like Shawarmas because I am not a fan of garlic.
The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation, a Detroit-based organization dedicated to mental health awareness, advocacy and treatment, awarded grants to partner organizations who work to improve mental health awareness and access in Michigan. The Flinn Foundation awarded $2.7 million to 52 organizations, which includes some new mini grant partners.
“The mini grant program is an opportunity for us provide smaller, flexible grants to community organizations we may not have partnered with before,” says Andrea Cole, Executive Director and CEO of the Ethel and James Flinn Foundation.
The goal of the grants is to increase access to mental health treatment and support to as many individuals as possible.
“We appreciate the important work our partner organizations are doing and want to support them in meeting the needs and growing demand for treatment and supports,” she adds.
The grants recipients, which are broken into five program areas, are listed below. Read on for details on what each organization plans to do with its grant award.
This Pontiac-based organization was awarded $75,000 to support its Family Resilience Program, which is aimed at reducing the likelihood of child abuse and neglect.
This Detroit-based organization received $75,000 to implement Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, which builds positive parenting skills for caregivers of children involved in welfare services.
This Bloomfield Hills-based organization was awarded $100,000 to develop southeast Michigan’s first Behavioral Health Urgent Care Clinic.
This Walled-Lake based organization received $75,000 for a special needs program that consists of providing parents with skills to ensure their child’s health and safety.
This West Bloomfield-based organizations received $65,000 to increase its capacity to offer behavioral services to youth.
This Ferndale-based organization is the recipient of $50,000 to use towards Applied Behavioral Analysis.
This Pontiac-based organization received $55,000 to provide Dialectical Behavior therapy to its clinical staff.
This Southfield-based organization received $100,000 to pilot a program that would provide behavioral healthcare and case management to patients released from the ER.
The Detroit-based organization was a recipient of a $75,000 grant, which will be used to start a community-based substance use disorder clinic in Oakland County for adolescents.
The Southwest Detroit Community Justice Center received $100,000 to provide mental health supports for those participating in the Community Court program and specialty diversion courts.
The 100,000 grant awarded to this Westland-based group is being used to develop a care coordination model and expand behavioral health treatment to adults in Detroit.
This Inkster-based organization received $70,000 to provide clinical training in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Children in the Livonia School District will receive expanded behavioral health services thanks to a $72,500 grant. In addition, the Board of Governors received a $75,000 grant to establish the first perinatal and early childhood clinic in Detroit, which will provide on-site behavioral health services for kids birth-5 and their families.
The $75,000 grant will support the Western Wayne Suicide Prevention Coalition, which is a program of behavioral health services, youth activities and education.
The Ann Arbor-based corporation plans to use its $75,000 grant to implement the IMPACT Collaborative Care Model in two pediatric clinics that will improve access to behavioral health services for ages 12-18. An additional $75,000 grant will be used to support evidence-based integrative physical health and behavioral health care at OB/GYN clinics in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.
This Detroit-based program will use its $100,000 grant for evidence-based mental health care to sexual assault and human trafficking survivors.
This Inkster-based organization will provide behavioral health services to immigrant women, refugees and women of color with its $62,500 grant.
The $50,000 grant awarded to Novi-based CNS Healthcare will provide mental health first aid training to address behavioral health episodes.
The $50,000 grant will be used toward the Pre-Plea Diversion Program, which is the first of its kind in Michigan.
This Pontiac-based health clinic will use its $50,000 grant to expand behavioral health services.
This Ypsilanti-based foundation will use its $50,000 grant to expand access to early childhood mental health services.
The hospital group received $50,000 to train clinic and hospital staff to identify and address mental health concerns in patients after birth.
This Farmington Hills-based center received $50,000 to expand mental health services for grades 6-12 in southeast Michigan.
This Detroit-based organization received $50,000 to train staff to improve mental health treatment for those with co-occurring disorders.
The $50,000 grant will help expand telehealth services to residents of Holly-based Rose Hill Center.
The $50,000 grant will provide on-site mental health services to those in need.
The Detroit-based group received a $50,000 grant to implement an effective training model for clinical assessment and intervention for children and families.
The $50,000 grant awarded to this Detroit-based organization will help close gaps in children’s mental health services.
The $50,000 grant will help with training at this Dearborn Heights-based organization.
This Lansing-based organization received a $15,000 grant to support general operating costs in order to provide advocacy support for children and families.
This Southfield-based advocacy organization, which focuses on treatment for individuals living with autism and their families, received a $25,000 grant.
This Grosse Pointe Park-based advocacy organization, which shares evidence-based practices to prevent suicides, received a $15,000 grant for general operating support.
This Lansing-based organization, which is a mental health policy and research advocate, received $50,000 for operating support.
This Lansing-based group received $65,000 for operating costs to support its efforts in mental health advocacy.
The $15,000 grant that this Northville organization, which focuses on Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties, will help support general operating costs.
This Lansing-based organization received $50,000 for general operating support to continue its statewide efforts in mental health care, treatment and recovery.
This Ann Arbor-based organization, which covers Washtenaw County, received $15,000 for general operating support.
A $5,000 mini grant was awarded to this Milan-based organization to help provide group workshops on children’s mental health.
This Detroit-based organization received a $5,000 mini grant to educate behavioral health professionals about the process of Assisted Outpatient Treatment.
The $5,000 mini grant awarded to this Detroit-based organization will be used for its Smash Suicide Billboard Awareness Campaign.
The Bloomfield Hills-based camp received a $5,000 mini grant to train counselors and staff on a number of mental health topics.
The $5,000 mini grant will increase staff capacity to promote mental health awareness and access in Northwest Detroit, specifically focused on older adults.
The $5,000 mini grant will provide restorative practice training to everyone at this Belleville-based agency.
The $5,000 mini grant awarded to this Farmington Hills-based foundation will provide therapist-led youth focus groups.
The $5,000 mini grant will provide coping skills and education outreach programming at this Highland Park-based organization.
The $5,000 mini grant awarded to this Southgate-based organization will help their work with parents of young children to understand early social-emotional development.
This Ypsilanti-based organization received a $5,000 mini grant to education students on the warning signs and causes of depression and anxiety.
The $25,000 grant awarded to this Detroit-based foundation will support a collaborative effort related to substance abuse disorder and opioid settlement dollars in Michigan.
The $100,000 grant will be used to support a Detroit Co-Response Model pilot between the Detroit Police Department and Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network.
The $200,000 grant will provide support to the Wayne County Jail Mental Health Initiative, which is aimed at improving diversion efforts.