Languages in the Big Apple

In an effort to include the many Russians living in New York, the
Office of Mental Health is introducing a Russian-language Suicide
Prevention, Education and Awareness Kit (SPEAK).

The kit is already offered in English, Spanish, and, as of last year,
Chinese, and is currently developing a Creole kit for the Haitian
community in New York. These five languages apparently reflect the
ones for which the Office of Mental Health receives the most requests.

But what we really want to know, of course, is whether these languages
also reflect the highest rates of suicide. Jill Daniels, the
spokeswoman for OMH, says no:

The kits [are] not being offered because of a higher preponderance
of suicides among those ethnic groups. “We’re trying to make it
available to all communities in their languages.”

Pat Singer of the Brighton Neighborhood Association, which provides
social and quality of life services to the Russian population in
Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach area, said that in her 30 years as founder
and executive director of the association she had never been aware of
a suicide.

Alcoholism and smoking are very evident among the population, she
said, as is some depression among the middle-aged. Her clients tend
to be emotional “but not to the point of killing themselves,” Singer
added. “They’re survivors. They’re a tough group of people.”

So out of the 1,300 New Yorkers who kill themselves yearly,
none of them are Russian? Impressive. Daniels also claimed
that there was no information regarding the rates of suicide among
different ethnicities in the city, which seems like a big fat lie.
Any ideas? Which ethnic group here is throwing in the towel at the
highest rate? Comments welcome!