Suicide deaths in St. Tammany Parish are taking an alarming climb.
So far this year, 41 people in the parish have taken their own lives; the latest tragedy happened at the end of August when a St. Tammany realtor took her own life.
According to the St. Tammany Parish coroner’s office, the number of suicides in the parish exceeds last year’s number of 35, and it’s inching closer to 2024’s data of 44 individuals.
The data shows a drastic difference from Washington Parish, which, according to their coroner’s office, has not had a suicide death this year and had 11 last year.
“Our goal is to prevent suicides from happening,” Lynette Savoie said.
Savoie is the executive director of the St. Tammany Outreach for Prevention of Suicide, also known as STOPS. The organization offers trainings to help identify signs, provide support for those who recently lost someone to suicide, and offers an SOS support group twice a month for suicide survivors or those who are grieving.
Becky Roniger, who is a founder of the STOPS organization, lost her 19-year-old daughter to suicide. She talked about how the SOS group helped her while she grieved.
“I don’t feel guilty about what happened in my family, and that’s difficult for a lot of people,” Roniger said. “When they say, ‘Oh, I should have done this, or I should have done that.'”
Roniger told WDSU that after her daughter’s death, she learned how to identify the signs that someone may be contemplating suicide, signs she said she wishes she knew before her daughter died.
“There are signs that are recognizable,” Savoie said. “People who are withdrawn, people who are giving their things away. Some people who are kind of a doom-and-gloom person, but all of a sudden, they’re happy. It’s kind of like they resolve themselves to the fact that their pain is going to be over soon because they’ve made a decision.”
The training at STOPS teaches individuals how to respond if they notice any of the signs, and it’s offered to groups and schools in all three parishes on the Northshore.
On Sept. 19, STOPS is hosting a suicide awareness 5K walk at the Abita Trailhead.
You can also learn more about their program and resources by going to their website.
If you or someone you know is struggling, dial 988, the national crisis hotline, which is available 24/7.
READ MORE:Support offered in St. Tammany amid alarming suicide deaths
