By Ally Hinkle
The Gatesville Messenger
The month of September is nationally recognized as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and those in Gatesville might not know that help is much closer to home than they realize.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 48,824 individuals lost their life to suicide in the United States in 2024, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death that year. The CDC also reports than nearly 4.6 million adults in America created a suicide plan and that 2.2 million adults attempted to take their life. Their studies show that men were nearly four-times more likely to take their lives than women and that both non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska native people and non-Hispanic white people are more likely to take their lives than other ethnic groups.
For Texas, and specifically in the Bell, Coryell, Hamilton, Lampasas and Milam counties areas, 104 deaths by suicide were recorded in 2025.
Central Counties Services Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) Team Coordinator Randy Dixon stated that individuals who commit suicide may take their lives for reasons that others may not know of.
“The problem is that suicidal crises are not necessarily about objectively having nothing to live for,” Dixon said. “A person may reach a point where emotional or psychological pain feels unbearable and the ability to imagine alternatives becomes severely narrowed.”
Central Counties Services has an office in each of the five counties that can provide mental health resources for both children and adults.
The Gatesville office is located at 615 E. Main St. The Gatesville office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The LOSS team focuses on both suicide prevention and postvention.
Prevention focuses on education for the community to increase awareness, including understanding any warning signs, how to properly talk to someone they are concerned for and how to connect someone with help.
“No single warning sign automatically means that someone will attempt suicide, but significant behavioral changes or combinations of concerning behaviors deserve attention,” Dixon said. “Statements involving death, hopelessness, being a burden or having no reason to live deserve attention. It should be a conversation, concern, listening and, when appropriate, professional help.”
Postvention focuses on the loved ones of those who committed suicide and providing them with support.
“After a suicide, surviving family members and friends frequently replay conversations and events in their minds,” Dixon said. “They may mentally rewind days, weeks, months or even years searching for something they believe they should have recognized. Survivors are not only grieving the person who died; they may also be desperately trying to understand why the death occurred.”
Throughout the month of September both the Central Counties Services and the LOSS team will be participating in various suicide prevention and awareness activities throughout the Central Counties area.
“The purpose of suicide awareness is not to make people afraid that everyone they love is in danger,” Dixon said. “The purpose is to make families and communities better prepared. We prepare because emergencies happen and knowing what to do can save a life.”
To contact the Gatesville Central Counties Services’ office, call 254-865-5844.
The organization’s crisis hotline is 800-888-4036, and the national Suicide & Crisis Hotline can be reached at 988.