Suicide

The federal government debuted the 988 mental health crisis hotline in 2022. While Missouri answers more than 9 out of 10 calls, a report finds the state needs more follow-up care.

The suicide death of a Lincoln University administrator reflects a a phenomenon associated with Black women and girls known as “weathering" — an early health deterioration as a consequence of repeated social and economic adversity paired with political marginalization.

The demands come after the suicide death of Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey, LU's former vice president for student affairs.

The Missouri HBCU's national alumni association leaders echo Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey's scathing critique of university president John B. Moseley.

Between 2018 and 2020, more than 200 women in Missouri died during pregnancy or in the year after giving birth, according to a state health department report released this week. The number of deaths has increased since the 2022 report. The number of deaths from suicide and firearms increased, and Black women were three times as likely to die during or after pregnancy than their white counterparts.

In July, Missouri officials debuted 988, an emergency mental health hotline that connects callers to dozens of organizations around the country based on the caller’s area code. The hotline’s overhaul means crisis response organizations need more workers and money to pay them. Advocates are concerned that the state has not committed to funding the hotline for the long term.

The nonprofit Missouri Foundation for Health and the Ad Council are launching a campaign to reduce gun-related suicides in the state. Starting this week, people in the St. Louis region will see online and television ads about safe firearms storage.

Inside Missouri's growing community of Black gun owners, even enthusiasts are alarmed about how quickly suicide rates are rising. But the message of crisis prevention isn't always a popular one.

Twenty months into the COVID-19 crisis, many businesses and organizations have found ways forward — including colleges and universities. But the students served by those institutions? Many of them are really struggling.

Gun-related suicides among young adults in Missouri had been declining since at least 1999, according to a new analysis from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. But after the state eliminated its permit-to-purchase requirement in 2007, firearm suicide rates among adults ages 19 to 24 jumped by nearly 22%.