Crisis counselors offer aid, comfort

As news of Anthony Bourdain’s death ricochets around the nation and the state, healthcare workers are trying to increase awareness about suicide and mental health issues and the resources that are available to help people. Bourdain, a celebrity chef who filmed an episode of his show “Parts Unknown” in New Mexico in September 2013, was found dead from an apparent suicide in Paris Friday morning. The news came just days after designer Kate Spade killed herself in New York. Wendy Linebrink-Allison, the program manager at New Mexico Crisis and Access Line, said the state-funded round-the-clock crisis line increases staffing of licensed counselors to answer calls after highprofile deaths like Bourdain’s and Spade’s. “We see people who are famous within our communities die by suicide that makes other people think about their own emotional state and the ways they are engaging in life,” she said. “We do see a surge in our crisis line when these types of deaths happen.” With a rate of 22.5 deaths by suicide per 100,000 people, New Mexico was ranked fourth in the nation in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, according to a report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other largely rural states, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska, have slightly higher rates. According to the CDC report, suicide rates have been increasing across the country over the past 20 years and New Mexico is no different, increasing 18.3 percent since 1999. “Suicide is a huge issue within our communities and we continue to be concerned about it,” Linebrink-Allison said. “Everybody’s life is important, and no matter how hopeless, helpless or worthless someone might feel, this is one moment in time. Tomorrow is another day.”