Local group sets out to battle state’s high rate of teen suicide

Sammie Hayes states quickly she does not want this story to be about her, but it largely started with her when she was 16.

It was at that point in her life that Hayes attempted to commit suicide. She doesn’t flinch in talking about the incident, but doesn’t mention much about the reasons. Hayes did say it was a “split-second decision.”

“I remember waking up in a hospital bed and feeling so guilty,” she added.

Flash forward to last September and Hayes, now a life coach by trade, became the founder and facilitator of Rooted Connections, a local group made up of teens working to prevent suicide by teens and raise awareness of what is, by most accounts, a serious problem throughout Washington.

Hayes said two state teens are lost to suicide every week. That’s more than 100 young adults a year. According to the Seattle-based Youth Suicide Prevention Program, the teen suicide rate in Washington was on the decline through 2002, the last year for which they list records, but the numbers were still above the national average. Hayes said figures like that periodically gain some media attention and stories of teen deaths might get some coverage.

“The prevention part, that just doesn’t get any press,” she said. Further, for Hayes, the issue goes beyond preventing suicide.

“It’s the pain these teens are in,” she said.

Previously meeting at the Northshore YMCA in Bothell and having launched its own Web site, Rooted Connections is clearly out to help teens and get the prevention part of the story in the public eye as much as possible.

In June, with the aid of Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb, Rooted Connections teens planted trees and placed a marker in Bothell’s Blyth Park. In part, the marker carries the Rooted Connections slogan, “Tomorrow is beautiful and so are you.”

Still, that marker is just the start of Rooted Connections’ publicity efforts. The group is putting together a book, “Teens Tellin’ It Like It Is,” as well as shooting a documentary.

The designer of the group’s Web site, Emi Preston, 17, said Rooted Connections simply gives teens a place to speak their minds. Every meeting begins with teens just talking about whatever they want to talk about. Hayes calls it “dumping your head.” Emi added that venting can be incredibly important.

“If you feel like you don’t have anybody to talk to, you feel trapped within yourself,” she said.

That venting is kind of the idea behind the book and documentary, as well, though raising awareness of the suicide issue, naturally, is a goal, too. In the case of both the book and the film, teens are being invited to say anything they want. Book submissions can include poetry, short stories or pretty much any type of written material, according to the Rooted Web site. In the end, Hayes clearly hopes the book can help teens and adults.

“For parents, it’s like getting inside the head of a teenager … It’s amazing the stuff they’re writing,” Hayes said.

Emi said she became involved with Rooted Connections because of the depressed or troubled friends and classmates she’s come across.

“I think all life is precious, as corny as that sounds,” she said. Issues she’s seen teens deal with include problems with parents, with romances, with sexual identity.

All Rooted Connections participants have taken suicide prevention training offered by the Youth Suicide Prevention Program, founded after the suicide of Bothell teen Trevor Simpson in 1992. Both Hayes and Emi said a main goal of Rooted Connections is to get suicide prevention taught in local schools, though Hayes stated that won’t be an easy accomplishment.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” she said. Everybody thinks teen suicide is terrible, Hayes added, especially after an incident occurs.

“But nobody really wants to talk about it.”

For more information, visit the Rooted Connections Web site at http://rootedconnections.com. For parents or others looking for information on Hayes, go to www.monarchlifecoaching.com.