Impoverished Indian tribe struggles to stop surge in teen suicides

The people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are no strangers to hardship or to the risk of lives being cut short. But a string of seven suicides by adolescents in recent months has shaken this impoverished community and sent school and tribal leaders on an urgent mission to stop the deaths. On Dec 12, a 14-year-old boy hanged himself at his home on the reservation, a sprawling expanse of badlands on the South Dakota-Nebraska border. On Christmas Day, a 15-year-old girl was found dead, followed weeks later by a high school cheerleader. Two more young people took their lives in February and two more in March, along with several more attempts. The youngest to die was 12.

The situation has turned into an epidemic. There are a lot of reasons behind it. The bullying at schools, the high unemployment rate. Parents need to discipline the children.

Thomas Poor Bear, vice president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe

Teachers recently foiled a plan by several high school girls to take their lives simultaneously. After the tribe appealed for help in February, volunteer federal mental health professionals began two-week rotations at the reservation to supplement the nine full-time counselors at the Indian Health Service hospital who were overwhelmed. They encourage students to come forward if a friend is considering suicide.

Americas Pine Ridge