Noem working to address teen suicide rate on Pine Ridge

@SoDakCampaigns

From KELOland comes a story on how Congreswoman Kristi Noem is working to address the teen suicide rate on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation:

Representative Kristi Noem returned to the Pine Ridge Reservation Friday to talk about the area’s suicide problem, and this time she brought along a key member of Congress on youth mental health issues.

It’s an ongoing tragedy that won’t leave Rep. Kristi Noem alone.

Five weeks after she heard first-hand accounts of suicides and near misses, Noem returned to Pine Ridge with Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy.  Murphy is a child psychologist who’s now pushing a sweeping mental-health reform bill.

He was moved, too.

and…

“That’s a program that’s used to give hope to students and youth and turn their lives around,” Noem said. “The fact that it’s ending in December means we’ve got to figure out ways to extend that program and keep their funds flowing.”

Murphy’s presence in Pine Ridge and the mental health law overhaul he is guiding through Congress could matter there.

Read it all here.

9 thoughts on “Noem working to address teen suicide rate on Pine Ridge”

  1. Because of the tribe’s incompetence in the grant application ,and in failing to revise and re-submit the application, future funds for the tribe’s suicide prevention program were denied by Obama.

    It seems that Democrat voters on the PR and their president in DC are peas in the same rotting pod.

    Thank God, literally–thank God–for Rep. Noem who is willing and able to represent ALL S. Dakotans, even those who are too blind to ever vote for her.

    Keep up the good work, Rep. Noem.

    1. Lol a Member of the US House ALWAYS has an election coming up. They run every 2 years! To try to make everything they do an election ploy is cheap, partisan pettiness.

      Noem deserves credit for these efforts regardless of the election calendar. Youth suicide should be an issue that goes beyond politics.

      1. LOL, no sh*t Sherlock, that’s why she’s pretending to care. For election reasons. Suicide on the reservations has been an issue for a long time. Now she jumps on the bandwagon. Whatever.

        1. If she really wants to learn about addiction and suicide, maybe she should be talking to a real expert who is make a huge impact on Pine Ridge. She happens to be a 12 count felon.

          1. I do agree with you 100 percent that she should talk to a real expert to learn about suicide and addiction. But I don’t think she’s a 12 count felon but perhaps I am incorrect. I thought everything she cleared up when her criminal record was exposed concerning the speeding tickets and failure to appear warrants were misdemeanors.

        2. That’s the most ridiculous attitude. What backup do you have to show that she’s “pretending” to care? She was in Pine Ridge a month ago and heard firsthand more about the suicide epidemic. If she was pretending I would think that visit would’ve been enough. She could’ve said “see I care, I came and talked to you”. Instead, she went back to DC and talked to the leading voice in Congress on mental health issues, who happens to be a child psychologist, and told him he really needed to come back to Pine Ridge with her and hear what she heard so he can make necessary changes to the mental health overhaul that he’s working on. That’s called follow-up, and it’s something I wish we would see more in our leadership.

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