According to the Wisconsin DHS, suicide rates have been on the rise in Wisconsin since 2019, but their new suicide dashboard, shows that there's a lot more to it than that.
The dashboard looks at trends involving suicide over the years, and points out how, where, and why suicides are happening. As of 2022, they found that over 50% of suicides in Wisconsin had to do with either relationship issues, or physical health problems, and older men in rural areas were at the highest risk.
Dr. Lindsay Emer worked to put the dashboard together, and said that another group that suicide impacts heavily, is veterans.
Emer said, "Because veterans in Wisconsin are at higher risk for suicide, and so we thought it was important to specifically pull out some of the significant differences in veterans compared to non-veterans in Wisconsin, so people who work with veterans, could use that to inform their work."
The dashboard says that in 2022, over 16% of adult suicides in the states were veterans. Emer said that she hopes the dashboard will help people understand what their loved ones could be going through, and to be more knowledgeable on suicide prevention.
