In 2023, there was a total old 132 total suicides in Kern County. According to the Kern County Behavioral Health Recovery Services (Kernbhrs), two demographics that they are seeing are more suicides in young people of color and elderly/senior populations.

Since September is Suicide Awareness Month, Kern Sol News interviewed KernBHRS’s unit supervisor for their crisis hotline, Javon Kemp.   

What’s the importance of protecting mental and why is it important to talk about suicide prevention? 

Kemp: I’ll start off with this. I don’t believe that our community is having the conversation about mental health or even suicide enough. I believe that we need to increase communication in our homes, in our communities and our faith based institutions at schools and definitely on our college campuses and also in a workplace. I believe that it needs to become just a normal conversation because all of us are dealing with some type of challenge. There are some who don’t have the coping skills that are necessary for them to effectively get through the challenge or even the crisis. 

So having these conversations brings awareness to the effects of not taking care of mental health. Some of the negative challenges that come with that or consequences. It’s important that for one we are able to recognize the red flags or the symptoms that may come up due to having mental health challenges. Or sometimes it’s not even ongoing. Sometimes it’s a moment. It may be a day, a week, a month where it’s just a really rough period. But it becomes more challenging when the crisis or the symptoms that a person is experiencing, they’re ongoing. If they go unchecked or if the person does not get the support that they need, then sometimes it will affect relationships within the family, social relationships, their profession, their ability to perform duties at work. It can also have a negative impact on a person’s spirituality due to burnout and things like that.

And so it’s important that we have these conversations so that we can live a healthy life. When we’re discussing mental health, we want to make sure that we are able to have the discussion, provide the support and the skills that are necessary for a person to live the highest quality of life that they can.

What are some of the warning signs people collect, look out for, for loved ones or friends or for anyone? 

Kemp: So isolation is one. When someone is by themselves or they’re isolating to a room, a certain area of the house. Also if they’re talking about death or dying. We look out for those types of statements when we’re looking at suicide. Swift mood changes are important as well. Those are red flags. 

Specific to suicide. When we have individuals who talk about the family being better off if they weren’t around or the world being a better place if they weren’t around, talking about ways that they would kill themselves if they if they were to have thoughts like those are all red flags when we’re looking at suicide. But even just on a crisis level or someone who’s having challenges with mental health, it could be rage. It could be engaging in reckless behavior where there it’s driving recklessly or engaging just having challenges with relationships. I’ll leave it there. So we have so many areas that we can look at. But it really looks at how an individual is able to cope with the challenges that they’re having. I think I raised the points as far as the suicide specific some of the signs that we’re looking for when we’re dealing with that. But mental health challenges, I think Anything with swift mood changes or when an individual’s not acting like they would normally act. I’ll leave, I’ll take it a step further. Even when some, let’s say there’s a lack of passion or interest in things that they would normally be interested in. Those are our red flags as well. See irritability is a red flag or increased substance use. So whether it’s smoking substances or drinking alcohol, sometimes those are a means to help them cope.

The challenge with that is once the high comes down or once a person is sober the challenge is still there. And so there’s a need to acquire effective coping skills to deal with the challenges that they’re dealing with. Those are just a few, but we have long list of things to look out for with mental health challenges and suicide individuals who have challenges with suicidal thoughts as well.

What should someone do if they’re experiencing suicidal thoughts or mental health or what should someone do if they know someone who’s experiencing that? 

Kemp: Good question. Anytime someone is in danger, we urge them to call 911. These are individuals we identify as an imminent risk or just a life threatening emergency. 911 is the number to dial. 

Now, if we have an individual who’s having a mental health crisis or if they need support going through what they consider to be a crisis, they can dial 981. And on the other side of that line we have highly trained crisis counselors who are able to provide the support that they need in order to get through. So we assist with coping skills. We also engage the individual in coping skills while they’re on the phone. Most of the time we’re able to help them to decrease the intensity of that feeling those thoughts of suicide. Maybe they also have a plan where they are able to create a distance between them and the means that they would try to kill themselves with and provide other support.

We look for resources within the community. We also look for social support that would enable that person to go to and discuss some of the thoughts. The challenges that they’re having with their thoughts about suicide. But the great thing also is that not only do we have 988 where you can call, but we also have a 988 where you can chat or text as well.

So we are here in Kern County. We’re very fortunate because within our crisis center, we’re also linked to Kern County. We’re actually a team within current behavioral health. But one of the differences between our county and other counties is that we’re directly linked to our mobile crisis unit.

So if an individual has thoughts of suicide and they want support they want help. And it’s clear for our mobile evaluation team to go out and support them and maybe get them the support they need. We can link them there. We also have the ability to contact our other internal teams. to get them assessed and linked to a treatment team, where they can receive therapy, medication services, whatever is necessary.

One of the things that we deal with in the community is some believe that if they call to get help, that they’re automatically going to be placed on a 51-50 or a locked facility. And that’s not true. We’ve really tried to, um, to provide support without putting individuals on a hold. And if they are willing to accept the support that we provide, um, it really helps the situation to move along because then we can provide the level of support that’s needed in that moment.

What are some stigmas around suicide that you would like to like clear up?

Kemp: The stigmas are for anyone. If you seek help, then you’re weak. You can’t handle it. You are just trying to get attention. It’s all about you, different things like that, which makes it difficult for some individuals to reach out because they don’t want to be perceived in that manner and they don’t want the label. So that makes it tough for some to reach out. We also have individuals who like there’s a myth where only mental health professionals can help people who are having thoughts of suicide, which is not true.

If you have a family member who’s having thoughts, being able to listen to them, listen to the story, and provide positive feedback, validate their feelings and also not fearing the conversation because of not knowing what to do next. So if a person has thoughts of suicide, sometimes we’re afraid to ask, are you having thoughts of suicide because we don’t know what to do next.

But I encourage everyone who have family members or loved ones who have thoughts of suicide to ask the question, are you having thoughts of killing yourself? And if they say yes, and you don’t know what to do next, you can always call 988. And we have again, highly trained individuals here who are able to help you navigate that conversation, get the support that you need.

So we can help your loved one to remain safe in that moment. And hopefully linked them to treatment if it’s needed so that they can receive the ongoing support that’s needed. Other myths are if a person talks about suicide, then they just want attention. If a person talks about suicide, it’s selfish.

What does mental health treatment look like? 

Kemp: It varies. Current behavioral health. We believe that every treatment for every individual should be individualized. So we don’t believe a blanket approach in using one method will be sufficient for every person that we serve.

We really try to get to know the individual. In some of our plans for treatment, we’re looking at the individual’s interest, the support that they have in family and community,  their history of mental health treatment, um, you know, their environment. There are so many components that come into play and the treatment plan or the plan for treatment is, it doesn’t have to remain the same.

We have two access points. I believe I know that we’re increasing so that we have more access points throughout the city. But the first access point is here at the crisis hotline. So if you have an individual who would like to pursue treatment and they’re having a difficult time, Challenging time.

They can call 988. We will support them. There’s also another access point at Mary Kay Shell, where you walk in between the hours of 8 to 5. they may be able to conduct a screening and an assessment for an individual so that they can begin the process of getting treatment. And with treatment there are different levels to treatment.

Is there anything else you’d like to share? 

Kemp: The only other thing that kind of repeats what I’ve said already is that in the 988 number we receive calls, chats, and texts. We are ready to receive the community. So if there are any challenges, any crises, crisis is subjective. A community member believes that they are in a crisis, we are there to support them through that crisis. Provide resources, coping strategies, social support, whatever we can do to support. We’ll do that. Even linking them to treatment through our agency, appropriate for them at that time.