We do want to warn you that this next story discusses suicide.

A new report released by the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health shows men living in Jefferson County are three times more likely to commit suicide or die by suicide than women.

It's one of the key findings in the report that highlights critical trends and risk factors and suicide deaths in the county.

The authors of the report called the findings, quote, sobering.

We hear from two of them now.

Jefferson County experienced a 24% increase in suicide deaths from 2019 to 2022.

A few findings that are on track with national trends.

We lost more men to suicide, with the proportion of men increasing from 67% to 79% of the total lives lost by 2023.

The majority of deaths were overwhelmingly among non-Hispanic white individuals.

Yet it's also important to note that the number of lives lost among both Black or African American individuals and Hispanic Latinx individuals doubled within that time frame.

Firearm use was by far the most frequent cause of death, especially among men.

And interpersonal discord that could be arguments, fights, separation, divorce, either with romantic partners or family friends, neighbors.

That was the most common precedent mentioned, leading up to a death, occurring in nearly a third of all deaths.

A few findings that are especially unique to our community.

Those in the construction and extraction fields, transportation fields and production fields lost the highest number of lives to suicide.

One item that also surprised us was that at least a third of all deaths involved cases where someone was either present as a witness at the time of death or immediately preceding the loss of life, which to us indicates a need for more increased efforts to provide support for those individuals.

Suicide really is a public health issue, and it's a public health issue that impacts all of us, whether we realize it or not.

There's just, so many lives that are lost in our community to suicide every year.

But the beauty of that is there's also so many things that each and every one of us can do in order to make a positive impact and reduce that pain.

And what we're doing here today, raising the level of awareness, helping people understand the depth and the breadth of the issue of suicide is the first step that we can take.

And the next step that I would like to highlight, that anyone can take is to be able to be comfortable addressing suicide as a topic.

There is so much stigma that still exists in our society around the topic of mental health or suicide.

People will tell you just about anything at all about them, but they won't tell you if they're having thoughts about suicide.

Some of the warning signs that we ask that people be aware of are the biggest one is a change in behavior that doesn't seem to make sense.

So if you have a person, for example, who is normally outgoing and is socially connected, begins to withdraw.

They're no longer participating in activities and events that they want.

We're very much a part of if people are spending too much time alone and they're not wanting to connect with other folks, that I'd love for people to take away that suicide is preventable, that we all have a role that we can play in addressing this public health issue and that there is, as Doctor Frye said, hope out there and help.

And you're not alone.

Whether you're the one experiencing the crisis or it's the crisis experience of someone you care for.

We're here.

We want to help.

And help is just a phone call away.

The researchers say they want to look closer at the factors that lead to suicide, and ways to identify opportunities for prevention and intervention in the future.

And if you are in crisis and you need somebody to talk to or you believe somebody you know may be in a crisis, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

It's a free resource that operates 24/7 and will connect you with a crisis counselor.