Certain youth and young adults are at greater risk of suicide including non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native. Research also indicates that high school students who identify as sexual minorities have higher rates of suicide attempts compared to heterosexual students. According to the CDC, “In 2021, more than a quarter (26.3%) of high school students identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual reported attempting suicide in the prior 12 months. This rate was five times higher than the rate reported among heterosexual students (5.2%).” Other people with greater rates of suicide are veterans, people who live in rural areas, and workers in certain industries and occupations like mining and construction. 

John Westefeld, a Counseling Psychologist Emeritus at the University of Iowa School of Education, wrote an article in the Journal of Prevention an Health Promotion about how suicide and suicide prevention are social justice issues. In his article, Suicide Prevention: An Issue of Social Justice, Professor Westefeld describes social justice issues as “activities designed to reduce suffering among people and promote the values of ‘equality and justice.’” Therefore suicide prevention is a social justice issue because it focuses on “reducing the stigma around mental health services, reducing means (especially firearms), and increasing accessibility to services and community.” 

I think people who have been mistreated, victimized, oppressed, bullied, and treated unjustly are at risk of feeling suicidal if these negative experiences happen repeatedly,  and especially if the person does not feel heard, understood, or believed. Because there is a lot of injustice, marginalization, oppression, bullying and unfairness in our society today, and there are many people who feel hopeless. Showing solidarity, standing up for the underdog, and acting against injustice are important ways to make people feel more hopeful that change is possible and that things won’t always be this way.