Suicide, according to Dr. Aridaldi Minino, is the third leading cause of deaths in teenagers. Suicide accounts for more deaths than cancer and heart disease in teens (1). Every day, every hour, suicide is taking the lives of children. Depression plays a huge role in suicide and also is very commonly unaddressed and untreated. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is working to eliminate suicide deaths by using donations to fund suicide research, engaging people in suicide prevention walks, and bringing suicide prevention programs to schools. Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary states that suicide, in definition is “the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally…” (1180). This means that the person …show more content…
These founding families—each of whom had lost someone to suicide—joined with scientists to create what today is the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, or AFSP. (1) This shows that the primary founders of this organization are dedicated to helping people and families of the people cope with suicide. AFSP offers research, prevention walks, education programs and much more to serve by their mission statement. In summary, this committed organization has a mission to save lives and bring hope to people that suffer from suicide. AFSP has scientists who work daily on finding new and current research to help combat suicide. When AFSP first started, they were a just a research organization devoted to finding the best ways to prevent suicide. Since then, they have been using donations to fund advanced studies like Dr. Jon Grant. He used a donation of $88,322 to see if brain function and decision-making in young adults associated with a history of suicide attempts. To do this, he used MRI brain scans to map the brain. This demonstrates just one of the 96 research projects that donated money funds. Donate now to save teens lives