YOUNGSTOWN — Many people feel that in April and May, hope springs eternal, but those two months also have a dark underbelly, a mental health expert says.

“April and May especially are when suicides skyrocket,” Duane J. Piccirilli, the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board’s executive director, warned.

Piccirilli and others in the mental health field spoke at Thursday’s Mahoning County commissioners meeting about the alarming rise in the suicide rate locally — and steps they see as essential to addressing it.

Also speaking at the meeting were representatives with Direction Home of Eastern Ohio, a private, nonprofit organization that helps older people and those with challenges maintain sound health and happiness, and the Mahoning County Public Health Department. All three bodies have formed a partnership to tackle the problem.

Last year, 53 Mahoning County residents ended their lives, up from 2021 and 2022, in which 41 and 43 suicides were recorded, respectively. The suicide rate was especially high in people 70 and older.

So far this year, eight people in the county — six males and two females ages 17 to 66 — have taken their lives, according to the board. The most recent confirmed suicide was Feb. 12.

One key way to help someone who’s contemplating suicide is to dispel certain misconceptions about the health problem.

“It has nothing to do with dying; it’s all about pain,” Piccirilli said, adding, “Don’t be afraid to ask. You won’t put (the idea of suicide) in their mind.”

A big challenge to helping especially men who may be considering ending their lives is that many of them have been conditioned to hide their emotions and wear a mask of false bravado, or they feel too proud to seek help. It’s also critical to never leave a potentially suicidal person alone, he noted.

The county has numerous resources to help those in crisis, including Help Network of Northeast Ohio, which can be reached at 330-747-2696. The agency also provides both 988 and 211 services.

The 988 system is the relatively new suicide and crisis lifeline; 211 is a referral line callers can use to find help for paying utility bills, for example.

Other potentially life-saving resources can include friends, clergy members, professionals and other trusted adults, Piccirilli said. He added that it’s vitally important for professional and lay people to be gatekeepers, meaning those who can be in a position to recognize a crisis as well as warning signs that a person could be considering suicide.

Also at the session, Angela DiVito, the Coalition for a Drug-Free Mahoning County’s executive director, discussed an intervention strategy called QPR (question if someone is contemplating suicide, persuade the person to seek help and refer to appropriate resources).

DiVito compared the approach to CPR, in that it, along with the Heimlich maneuver, can save a person from a heart attack or other physical ailment, just as QPR can save a life if properly used to assess the person’s emotional state and then intervene.

Mahoning County has 20 people trained in the QPR method, with free, one-hour classes available, DiVito said. She added that those receiving such training do not have to be mental health experts.

Even though QPR is neither a form of treatment nor a type of counseling, it functions as part of a “chain of survival.” Its main pillars are early recognition of suicidal warning signs and signals, early application of QPR, early intervention via professional screening and assessment, and early access to appropriate care providers, according to the Spokane, Washington-based QPR Institute.

Joseph Rossi, Direction Home’s executive director, said his agency is continuing to train its staff and providers in recognizing the signs of a potentially suicidal person.

Following a similar trajectory is the health department, which is working to bring additional agencies together for the same purpose, Ryan Tekac, the county health commissioner, noted.

Calling suicide “a public health crisis,” Tekac said it’s vital that the department’s partners also are on board with recognizing danger signs that could lead to suicide.

“We want to keep this topic going,” Tekac said, adding that men especially need to know it’s OK to ask for help.

Lee A. DeVita, the Mental Health and Recovery Board’s program coordinator, talked about his agency’s LOSS team program in which typically two or three trained volunteers — many of whom have lost a loved one to suicide — offer support, resources and understanding to those who have suffered the same loss, regardless of how long ago it occurred.

Earlier this month, the board applied for a $3,000 mini-grant from the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation in Columbus to help fund a new Survivors of Suicide support group through Jewish Family & Community Services of Youngstown, DeVita noted.

Also at the meeting, Commissioners Anthony T. Traficanti and David C. Ditzler passed a resolution declaring today (March 1) as Suicide Awareness and Prevention Day. Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti was unable to attend Thursday’s session.

Ditzler recalled having lost a close friend to suicide about 15 years ago. The friend suffered from depression, and had lost his job and wife, the commissioner said.

“It’s hard to confront, but you don’t know how close someone is to that edge,” he added.

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