Community Group Aims to Build a Safety Net

Editor's note: This article is part of a series about efforts by police, city and school district officials and concerned residents to help teens and adults affected by depression.

Nearly every one of the 17 people who gathered Tuesday in the City Hall Community Room has been touched in some way by depression or suicide.

Some lost relatives or close friends. Others have, or have worked with, children who struggled with depression. All came together to help develop a community network that provides support for people of all ages, but particularly for young people, who may be thinking about suicide.

Hills City Council member Nancy Bates explained that city officials became concerned last spring when a regular report from Police Chief Chuck Nebus showed that 13 youths had attempted or talked about suicide. She began meeting with council members Ken Massey and Randy Bruce, a therapist, to talk about a community response.

"We think this is a very serious problem," she said, "and we really want to get our heads into this and help our children live more positive lives."

"We like to think Farmington Hills is progressive and out in front with a lot of things," Massey said. "When we saw the numbers ... we took that personally, and we started to talk about what we could do to give kids an alternative."

While officials recognized that adults have problems, too, they decided to "take on one thing at a time."

Since last year, Nebus' regular report to council members has included calls that involve mental health issues. Since this past weekend, he said, a 28-year-old man committed suicide, a 15-year-old boy texted suicide threats to his friends, two adult women attempted suicide and a bus driver contacted police after an 11-year-old girl told the driver she wanted to kill herself.

So far this year, Nebus said, 38 adults have been committed for mental health treatment; eight made overt suicide attempts, 17 threatened suicide and three completed suicides. Among teens, there have been no overt suicide attempts or suicides; eight teens have been committed for treatment, seven after threats of suicide.

"The problems are real, and they're now," Bates said.

The group viewed a short film, Butterfly Kisses, written and directed by Michael Sneed. Winner of the Best Narrative Film award in the Made in Michigan Film Festival, the movie's lead actress, Marlee Goldman, is a student who received an award nomination for her portrayal of a troubled young woman who eventually takes her own life.

Bruce said the movie accurately portrays the sense of alienation and "lost feeling these kids fall into more and more and, of course, the devastation of the family left behind." He felt the film would help families understand the signs to look for in their own children.

"The more we get that out there through things like this, I think that's where the real impact comes in," he said.

Judy Rosen Davis of the Michigan Association of Suicide Prevention liked that the story centered on an ordinary family.

"So often, we assume that happens to bad people, cruel people," she said. "These are issues everyday families deal with."

Assistant Principal Bob Crawford felt the movie would be best shown to parents. He is concerned about the risk of contagion or copycat suicides. Crawford said the 28-year-old who died over the weekend was a classmate of a young man who committed suicide in 1999.

Public schools and law enforcement officials end up dealing with what is a last resort, Crawford said, but the challenge is what happens before children get to that point.

"What's critical, and what I'm hearing in this room, is we have multiple ways to connect, multiple interventions and, hopefully, you never get to the point where you're looking at that last piece," he said.

Crawford said conversations about suicide need to happen in "a very controlled way. We have to be really cautious. ... How we proceed is really important."

Diane Zalapi, vice president of Farmington Hills-based , was struck by the need for a communitywide response. 

As a Farmington resident for four years, she said Farmington and Farmington Hills "is really a very small community in a big city. To have this kind of activity ... is the only way to create these kinds of safety nets."

Bates asked everyone to bring two or three goals for the committee to the next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. April 14 at Farmington Hills City Hall.

"I think we've got a good group," she said after the meeting. "Their skills and talents are very broad-based."

Coming next: Sobriety Court gives hard-core alcohol and drug users an opportunity to find help.