After being reported missing by her stepfather, a teenage girl was found unconscious on the floor of a Kirkland Starbucks’ bathroom two weeks ago. It was her second suicide attempt in three months.
That Saturday an employee of the Central Houghton Starbucks noticed the bathroom had been locked for a long time. Upon rattling the handle, he was able to get inside to see the girl in a small pool of blood and open medicine bottles nearby, according to the police report.
Minutes later, the employee approached a Kirkland police officer and the girl’s stepfather. The two were at the adjacent Bartell Drugs store looking for her.
An officer immediately ran to the Starbucks bathroom and discovered a dire situation.
After one minute of being unresponsive the girl awoke.
“She told me that she was depressed and stated ‘I want to die,’” wrote the officer in the police report. “She explained that everyone expected her to be perfect and she was feeling overwhelmed.”
The teen was taken to Overlake Hospital and was placed under an involuntary commitment hold.
“It’s such a huge concern right now. We’re really noticing a huge percentage of youth who are presenting suicidal thoughts,” said Debbi Halela, director of the Youth and Family Counseling Program at Youth Eastside Services. “Kids today are struggling with depression, anxiety or both and they don’t have the coping skills.”
A 2012 Healthy Youth Survey said that of 3,100 King County 10th graders surveyed, 19 percent have considered suicide and 30 percent have depressive feelings. Both statistics are between a 2 to 3 percent increase from 2010 – 17 percent of 10th graders had suicidal thoughts and 27 percent had depressive feelings.
Similarly, 15 percent of 2,300 King County 12th graders surveyed had suicidal thoughts and 28 percent had depressive feelings. In 2010, 14 percent of 12th graders were suicidal and 26 percent had depressive feelings.
“We have noticed a trend,” Halela said. “In the past couple of years there’s been a couple of [teen suicides] in Kirkland and we have been aware of that trend on the Eastside [as a whole].”
Although there are a plethora of reasons teens might consider suicide, such as academic pressures, bullying, family problems, abuse, depression or drug addiction, there are common warning signs that friends and family should be aware of.
According to Youth Eastside Services, warning signs of teen suicide include:
● Increased use and abuse of alcohol and drugs
● Giving away prized or valuable possessions
● Sudden changes in behavior, including increased risk taking, severe withdrawal and avoidance of activities that had been enjoyed in the past
● Altered eating and sleeping patterns
● Subtle or obvious verbal threats such as, “I wish I was dead,” or “You’ll be sorry when I’m gone.”
● Drawing or writing about death on book covers, in journals, etc.
● Increased discouragement, depression, anxiety or anger
Teenagers are often more aware of their friends’ suicidal thoughts or changes in their mood, Halela said, and that telling an adult could prevent the worst.
“This is an issue that definitely warrants us raising our awareness of the issues of depression and how it impacts teens,” Halela said. “School personnel are really in-tune but we need the whole community to come together to have awareness of teen depression and suicide so that we can appropriately respond.”
For those at imminent risk, call 911 or the National Hopeline Network at 1-800-784-2433 or contact YES at 425-747-4937 for an appointment or visit www.youtheastsideservices.org.
