Local counseling professionals are increasingly concerned about local suicide statistics, which appear to outpace statewide figures. Though some numbers lag behind a year or more, they are concerning, experts say.

According to the Michigan Department of  Community Health, Michigan’s Region 7 -- which includes Leelanau, Antrim, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse and Benzie counties -- experienced a suicide rate that exceeded the state rate for most of the years between 1999 and 2009. In 2011, there were 101 hospitalizations attributed to intentional self-harm reported in the five counties, per the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. That same source notes that 28 people died by suicide in 2013. And that figure doesn’t include those who attempted or moved past thoughts of suicide.

In Traverse City specifically, roughly 100 calls each week to Third Level’s crisis line are from people contemplating suicide or persons worried about loved ones who may be.

Cari Greiner is one of the crisis counselors fielding those calls. She says the first thing she and the other counselors do when a call comes in is try to determine if the person calling is about to harm themselves or others.

“First is assess for safety, if there’s potential to harm one’s self or others,” she says. Counselors go through a checklist of questions, such as whether the person feels helpless or alone, whether they are in psychological pain, if they have suicidal or homicidal thoughts, or if there are any means of suicide available. “It’s stressful. If they’re hyperventilating or crying we go through breathing exercises, help them have a clear mind.”

Talking about suicide isn’t easy. But according to the experts, bringing it into the open is the only way to begin addressing the problem. “There’s a big stigma. People are afraid to talk about it,” says Amanda Elliott, marketing specialist for Child & Family Services/Third Level. “We encourage people to talk about it.”

Mickie Jannazzo, Third Level’s crisis manager, puts it more bluntly. If you think someone may be contemplating suicide, “the only way to know for sure is to ask. You have to ask,” she says. She compares it to other subjects that used to be taboo, such as cancer or spousal abuse. “There was a place where you didn’t talk about DUIs, or child abuse. It’s a public health problem – (talking) allows us to reduce the stigma.”

The national data is just as troubling as it is here. A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control shows incremental increases of the U.S. suicide rate over a 15-year period, which accumulate to an overall increase in suicides of 24 percent from 1999 to 2014. And an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that suicide rates for adolescents and young adults are higher in rural than in urban communities regardless of the method used, and rural-urban disparities appear to be increasing over time.

Jannozzo says the many risk factors and indicators often make predicting a suicide candidate challenging. Someone who has a mental health condition or is talking about suicide is of course more at risk; suicide is more common among males. Yet “people come to it from a variety of places. Life has lots of slings and arrows. There are a lot of variables,” she says.

Most of those who attempt suicide but survive are glad they did, says Elliott. She notes that some who survived jumping off bridges later said they regretted jumping even as they were dropping toward the water.

Those who lose a loved one to suicide are often left grasping for answers or blame themselves. “For those close (to the victim), it’s never really over. There are lots of support groups, such as Michael’s Place and others. It’s important to wrap our arms around them. It can be dealt with,” Elliott says.

Traverse City-based Michael’s Place now facilitates an adult support group several times a month for those grieving the loss of a loved one by suicide.