Udall Discusses Critical Need to Address Youth Suicide in Native Communities

Earlier this week, at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, U.S. Senator Tom Udall discussed the critical need to address the high rate of suicide among Native American youth. He questioned the acting director of the Indian Health Service, Tribal leaders and a Psychological and Developmental Sciences expert about improving desperately needed mental health services.

Udall highlighted some of the challenges facing New Mexico's Tribal communities and cited recent research by the University of New Mexico (UNM) on risk factors that may place Native youth at increased risk for suicide. Last year, UNM researchers found that 20 percent of Native Americans from seven New Mexico Tribes had been exposed to four or more traumatic experiences as children, including alcohol and drug abuse, physical violence at home, neglect, abuse, divorced or separated parents, or the imprisonment of a close family member.

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