You matter because you may need help. You matter because you are in a position to help. Umatter is a suicide prevention program for youth and adults that teaches self-care and caring for others. Umatter trains teams of young people and professionals about mental health, signs of suicide, and how to help. Umatter supports community action projects that create a culture where people know they can make a difference and that THEY MATTER.
Suicides have become the second-leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States. More youth die by suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease. Why do people die by suicide? People who survive suicide attempts say they wanted to end the pain of feeling alone, like a burden, and hopeless. Anyone can be at risk of suicide if they become overwhelmed by stress and don't find their way to support.
Umatter is a suicide prevention program that promotes mental health, teaches self-care, risk assessment, coping and help-seeking skills to school staff, mental health and youth-serving professionals, community members, and young people. Young people and adults learn to recognize and address depression and risk factors and build strengths through self-care and community action. Students receive knowledge and skills to recognize signs of depression and how to help.
CHL regularly updates our offerings to ensure they are equitable and accessible, especially coming out of the pandemic into a hybrid world in Rural America. We use pre= and post-evaluations to review our training, work with the Best Practices Registry for our Umatter Programming to continually innovate what we are learning in the field, and grow through collaborating with community-oriented organizations to reach each community where it is at and how they best learn.
