There's an epidemic of child suicide in Colorado: Children's hospital

The Children's Hospital of Colorado is sounding the alarm on the dramatic increase of suicides among young people, their website said Wednesday. According to statistics, suicide is now the number one cause of death for Colorado children.

"Right now, Colorado's children uniquely need our help," said hospital CEO Jena Hausmann. "It has been devastating to see suicide become the leading cause of death for Colorado's children. For over a decade, Children's Colorado has intentionally and thoughtfully been expanding our pediatric mental health prevention services, outpatient services and inpatient services, but it is not enough. Now we are seeing our pediatric emergency departments and our inpatient units overrun with kids attempting suicide and suffering from other forms of major mental health illness."

The leading complaints cite a trend in low-level anxiety and depression being made worse by the isolation and stress of the pandemic.

"I've been in practice for over 20 years in pediatrics and I've never seen anything like the demand for mental health services we've seen at Children's Colorado in the past 15 months," said Chief Medical Officer David Brumbaugh, MD. "There have been many weeks in 2021 that the number one reason for presenting to our emergency department is a suicide attempt. Our kids have run out of resilience – their tanks are empty."

Read the full report here.