Governor Spencer Cox reaffirms Utah’s commitment to reduce suicide. Utah is one of 35 states participating in the Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families. This challenge is a partnership between the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop and implement state-wide suicide prevention best practices.

The declaration reads:

Whereas, suicide is a national public health challenge that causes immeasurable pain among individuals, families, and communities across the country;

Whereas, the number of Veteran and Military suicides has exceeded 6,000 each year from 2008-2018;

Whereas, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, 2nd for people ages 10-34, and on average 130 Americans die by suicide each day accounting for over 47,500 suicide deaths in 2019;

Whereas, on March 5, 2019, Executive Order 13861 was signed, calling for the development of a comprehensive plan to empower Veterans and end suicide through coordinated suicide prevention efforts, prioritized research activities, and strengthened collaboration across the public and private sectors. This plan is known as the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide or PREVENTS (the “Roadmap”);

Whereas, for every individual who feels alone, ashamed, or believes that they would be a burden if their thoughts or feelings were shared, there are scores of others in every community who want to help but are not sure how;

Whereas, Utah businesses are in the unique position to leverage the learnings from our employees, including Veterans, to encourage a national discussion on mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, and collaborate on meaningful solutions;

Whereas, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families that brings together interagency teams to address Veteran suicide at the state level; and

Whereas, the PREVENTS national public health campaign REACH, will seek to increase awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention to reduce suicide for all Americans;

Now, Therefore, I, Spencer J. Cox, Governor of the great state of Utah, do hereby declare September 2021 as World Suicide Prevention Day in Utah

Learn more about the Governor’s Challenges to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families here

A .pdf version of the declaration may be downloaded here.